What I Watched in 2022
Dec. 14th, 2022 05:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forestsofpineLast year I read way more fanfic than usual; this year I watched way more TV than usual. I figured I might as well do an end-of-the-year roundup, so here, in alphabetical order, are quick recaps/reviews of every show I finished this year:
Abbott Elementary (season one)
I really enjoyed this! Quinta Brunson was one of my favorite Buzzfeed stars and she did really well as an idealistic young (but not brand new) teacher in an under-funded urban Philadelphia school. The supporting cast was also great and the show was laugh-out-loud funny, while also balancing touching moments and a sometimes subtle, sometimes not-so-subtle through-line of outrage about the dreadful conditions both teachers and students are subjected to by this country's indifference to education.
Bad Buddy (MDL)
My favorite non-censored BL drama to date. A fairly typical Thai university BL with an enemies-to-lovers storyline that was elevated by great acting and chemistry between the two leads. Ohm as Pat and Nanon as Pran were both delightful and lit up the screen with their charisma.
Despite being low heat, this series had some fantastic kisses (see above) and a great deal of horseplay-as-foreplay that made it clear the boys had an active, enthusiastically consensual, and almost certainly vers sexual relationship. Bad Buddy also did a great job portraying a healthy relationship without making it boring. Once they got over a few initial speedbumps, the conflict was primarily external, and Pat and Pran communicated really openly and well with each other about their needs, desires, and boundaries.
The series was not without some minor flaws, like the stupid shooting subplot (which was, at least, thankfully short), but I was very charmed overall and also appreciated how deliberately it set out to subvert some of the common stereotypes of the BL genre.
There's also a lovely side f/f relationship.
Beyond Evil (MDL)
This gripping police thriller Kdrama about a cold case that gets revived after a new victim is discovered left me with a horrendous TV hangover that hasn't fully gone away.
The plot was twisty and intense, the central performance by Shin Ha-kyun as Lee Dong-sik was spectacular, the chemistry between the two male leads was strong and extremely slashy, and I also developed so much affection for some of the secondary characters. I rewatched this show twice AND it was my third most read fandom of the year after MDZS/CQL and Kinnporsche, and I still miss themmmm. 😭
I saw this tweet right around the time I was finishing the show for the first time and it's stuck with me as a really good description of the vibes:
Which is not to say the show is fully bleak or depressing. Many of us could use a few more soup nights with friends like the Manyang butcher shop crew in our lives. The two male leads are also very much a Weirdo4Weirdo pairing, and that's always a blast, as are their frequent cat-and-mouse games with each other.
Beyond Evil had some of the standard flaws of its genre (in particular, there's a scene where some of the "good" cops chase a journalist away from one of their colleagues that was played off as a good thing in a way that had me wincing), but it was openly critical of many aspects of Korea's law enforcement practices and didn't hold back in its depiction of the ways in which those in power manipulate public sympathy and the workings of the justice system for their own ends, either.
ANYWAY, I could keep rambling on, but I'll spare you. As I said, I just developed so much affection for a bunch of the characters in this drama, and it was one of my favorites of the year.
You can check out some of my recs for it here.
Business Proposal (MDL)
I binged this Kdrama in three days while sick with a head cold. A mostly silly, slapsticky romantic comedy, perfect when you're in the mood for some light viewing. Despite the drama's insubstantiality, I did appreciate that the main couple had common interests and professional respect for each other (the heroine's job as a food scientist was an interesting twist on more common fictional character professions like chef or bartender) that deepened their romantic attraction. I also liked the solid and supportive male-male and female-female friendships.
Color Rush (MDL)
This Korean BL show about a teenage "Mono" (a person who can only see color in the presence of another person, called their "Probe") was darker than I expected and had some very interesting worldbuilding, but was marred by a typical Korean dead fish kiss.
A First Love Story (MDL)
Short and sweet friends-to-lovers Korean BL from Strongberry, so it is higher heat and with more realistic kisses than most Korean BLs. But when I say short, I'm not kidding. It's about 15 minutes total.
Good Manager (aka Chief Kim) (MDL)
This office comedy Kdrama about a mob accountant who joins a major company hoping to embezzle money and instead ends up in a fight against corporate corruption was a blast! It was full of quirky yet endearing characters in the classic Kdrama style, but I especially enjoyed Lee Junho's performance as the "gluttonous sociopath" Seo Yul, who ends up having both a hilarious enemies-to-allies bromance with the main character and a surprisingly sweet crush on the female lead. As I said back in September:
The fandom is, alas, tiny despite the slash fodder. My kingdom for a vee-style OT3 fic with Seo Yul as the hinge... 😢
Heartstopper
Very sweet and touching British BL-style teen romance.
He's Coming To Me (MDL)
A sweet paranormal romance between a college student and a ghost, this drama has more of a non-romance based plot than many BL romances, as the pair discovers that the ghost was murdered and work together to uncover his killer. I watched this mainly because I found Ohm so charming as Pat in Bad Buddy, but I really enjoyed it, and want to give a particular shout out to the beautifully acted and moving coming out scenes.
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (MDL)
A seaside romantic comedy between a small-town jack-of-all-trades and a city dentist who sets up a clinic in his neighborhood. The last few episodes got too melodramatic in my opinion, but prior to that I was really enjoying the slow burn. I do love a good bickering couple, and the chemistry between the two leads was great. There was also a love triangle subplot that was handled less annoyingly than most (I say this as an avowed hater of love triangles), but would have been better if they'd just gone full poly triad, imnsho. This drama was another with a nice cast of quirky yet endearing secondary characters; I especially loved Kim Young-ok as Kim Gam-ri. According to MDL, she's called South Korea's "National Grandma" and it's easy to see why!
Imposters (season one)
I'd somehow never heard of this show despite it being five years old, but my spouse found it on Netflix and wanted to watch it, so we gave it a shot and thought it was entertaining. We are still working on season two, but did finish the first season. It's about a con artist who marries people and then steals all their money. Three of her past marks team up to track her down, and find her in the middle of a con that takes some unexpected turns. Uma Thurman has a small role that she appears to be having a lot of fun with.
Kinnporsche (season one) (MDL)
I always feel like this one's a little bit of a hard sell because of the mafia thing, the epic levels of secondhand embarrassment in the second episode (it does decrease significantly after that, thank goodness), and some pacing and tonal dissonance issues, but also, some scenes were so incredibly, outrageously iddy for me that I felt like I was losing my mind and possibly just straight up imagining their existence and manifesting them somehow from the murky depths of my brain onto the screen.
Besides... that, which I realize is a highly subjective selling point since your id may or may not align with mine in this regard, the series does some other stuff objectively well, including solid acting, gorgeous cinematography, and some of the most beautifully filmed sex scenes ever committed to film. It's also an interesting experience in slow-building dread, as many things that seem kind of silly or implausible in the beginning hit very differently by the end.
Unlike a bunch of these other shows, Kinnporsche also ended up with a fairly active fandom. It has a plot that isn't purely romance-based, with plenty of opportunities for canon divergence, and a relatively large cast of characters with lots of complicated history and relationships with each other, so there's more scope for fic than a typical BL romance. Sadly, considering how much fic is being produced, I've had mixed luck finding fic that I'm interested in reading, but there are some gems out there in the wilds of AO3.
More rambles on Kinnporsche here.
Love In the Air (MDL)
The first half of this Thai BL involves a D/s relationship between a bratty college freshman and a smoking hot older bad boy mechanic/architect; the second, a smarmy rich boy trying to convince the snarky power bottom who blew his mind in a one night stand to date him. Both the two main couples had great chemistry and the sex scenes were very hot. (Not Kinnporsche level, but not far off.) In addition to the main series, there's a 70 minute special episode that was a couple of conveniently placed throw pillows away from being outright porn.
Despite the good smut, I struggled with it a bit in the first half because the college freshman was too dumb for my taste, and in the second because I felt like one of the characters needed therapy more than a boyfriend. I ultimately found the series to be more entertaining than satisfying.
Mr Queen (MDL)
Going back to horrendous TV hangovers... this show was giving me one before I even finished watching it. I really liked Kim Jung-hyun in Crash Landing on You last year, so decided to check out more of his dramas this year. He was really good in Mr. Queen as well, and had great chemistry and an excellent slow burn, Schemer4Schemer romance with the main character, but the real stand-out performance was Shin Hye-sun as a modern male chef trapped in the body of a Joseon era queen. She clearly had a blast with the role and knocked it completely out of the park. Na In-woo as the queen's obsessively devoted cousin Kim Byeong-in also made me insane in a good way; his descent as he became increasingly unhinged from reality was like a slow motion trainwreck I couldn't look away from. Despite a somewhat disappointing ending (I was luckily spoiled in advance, which helped in this case, since it turned out to be not as bad as I feared), if I had to pick one favorite show of the year, it would probably be this one. The small number of fics continues to kill me. 😭
My Beautiful Man (MDL)
Man, I really wanted to like this Japanese BL. A lot of people with excellent taste rave about it, and it was objectively well done. It certainly had a killer first kiss! But I just never managed to connect with the characters and something about it left me cold.
Old Fashion Cupcake (MDL)
Another Japanese BL drama, and this one I did like almost as much as I wanted to. It was a sweet romance between a 39 year old office worker who's stuck in a rut, and his 29 year old coworker who helps him rediscover joy. My only complaint was that the somewhat bland final episode was a little bit of a letdown after the absolute top-tier love confession scene in the second-to-last episode, but it was nevertheless a deeply satisfying and life-affirming drama that could leave almost anyone with a smile on their face and an intense craving for strawberry pancakes.
Our Flag Means Death (season one)
Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet was the second most popular ship on AO3 this year, producing more than 10,000 works in less than a year, so I watched this show really hoping to get interested in it in a fannish way. I do love a good juggernaut. Sadly, that didn't happen, although I read a handful of fics and would be open to reading more, but I did think the show was a lot of fun and am looking forward to season two!
Roommates of Poongduck 304 (MDL)
I've enjoyed the heck out of a lot of het and gen Kdramas, but I keep trying Korean BLs and not disliking them, but not being exactly wowed either. Roommates of Poongduck 304 was one of the ones I enjoyed the most. Like most Korean BLs, it has relatively slow pacing despite its shorter length, but it held my interest better than some of the other Korean BLs I’ve tried. My guess is that the difference was due to the rather assertive and argumentative main characters, whose bickering was a stark contrast to the more reserved couples in many other Korean BLs I've tried. Anyway, I enjoy a good bickering couple, and I enjoyed this BL. As an extra bonus: real (not dead fish) kisses!
Semantic Error (MDL)
Semantic Error had a lot of the same qualities as Roommates of Poongduck 304. It's a slow build enemies-to-lovers storyline that managed to hold my attention well despite Korea's leisurely BL pacing and low heat, thanks to the unusually good (especially for Korea) chemistry between the leads, and the active relationship dynamic between them that involved a lot of bickering and playfulness. It also had multiple good kisses, which seems hard to find in both Korean and Japanese BL. Semantic Error was a huge hit, so hopefully more Korean BL studios will take the hint!
Anyway, I would rate both Semantic Error and Roommates similarly, but Semantic Error wins the title of my favorite Korean BL so far by a slim margin because:
Like, duuuude.... unfair.
Seventeen in the Soop (MDL)
A reality show starring the guys from the K-pop group Seventeen, which a friend got me into this year. Lots of cute interpersonal interactions, and an all-around pleasant and relaxing watch.
I also watched a bunch of episodes of Going Seventeen, the group's variety show, but didn't manage to finish a full season. Some of my favorite episodes included Four Wheeled Rider (Part 1, Part 2), The Tag (Part 1, Part 2), and the Don't Lie episodes (I: Part 1, Part 2; II: Part 1, Part 2; III: Part 1, Part 2). A couple more bits of favorite Seventeen-related content I watched this year included the Mafia Dance and the Hybe Picnic (alongside other Hybe groups, including TXT and Le Sserafim), especially the dance battle (Part 1, Part 2).
The Eclipse (MDL)
A Thai BL with a strong pro-democracy message, by a trans director and former member of Thailand's parliament. I watched this series as it was airing and anticipated it eagerly every week, but ultimately ended up with somewhat mixed feelings. The plot built slowly to a conclusion that felt rushed, confusing, and not entirely satisfying. It reminded me a little of Word of Honor's ending in that regard, in fact, and I was left wondering if it was originally intended to have more episodes just like WoH?
Despite my frustrations with the final episodes, I enjoyed the show a lot overall thanks to its strong cast and the tenderness with which it handled its teen romances. First and Khaotung as Akk and Ayan and Neo and Louis as Kan and Thua all gave outstanding performances. Both couples had fantastic chemistry, and the romances were both gentle and sweet slow burns that were written and filmed with a lot of compassion for all four characters and their situations. Some of the acting took my breath away with the poignant portrayal of the first, tentative steps towards accepting queer love and happiness. It was lovely and heart-filling in the best way and I'm grateful for having watched the series.
Khaotung, First, and Neo will all star together in another GMMTV drama next year called Only Friends that looks much higher heat than The Eclipse, and after enjoying their performances so much in The Eclipse I'm planning to check it out for sure. Here's the trailer. The writer and director of The Eclipse are teaming up with Ohm and Fluke from Until We Meet Again (see below) for another BL drama called 609 Bedtime Story that started airing on December 2. Here's the trailer for that one.
To My Star (MDL)
Another Korean BL. Had some good moments, and I liked the actor who played the actor character - he was quite charming. But the series overall was fine but didn't wow me.
Until We Meet Again (MDL)
The actor who plays Dean in this Thai BL clearly minored in Intense Gazes at university, damn. There's a scene where the main character handfeeds him a sweet that is practically obscene.
ANYWAY.
If you want to just straight up swoon, there's not a show in this list that can top this one for pure romance. I enjoyed the heck out of it, despite its unfortunate over-reliance on some tired seme/uke tropes that left me frustrated with the skinship scenes and wishing that it had been made even a couple years later than it was.
It's a reincarnation/fated lovers story about Pharm and Dean, a pair of college students who discover they are the reincarnations of Intouch and Korn, two students from the same school who committed suicide about 30 years earlier. ⚠️Please note that the double suicide is depicted rather graphically onscreen in the opening scene and there are periodic flashbacks to it, as well as the events leading to it, which include physical abuse and homophobia. Although there is angst and the cuter scenes between Korn and Intouch are rather bittersweet knowing their fates, both couples are quite sweet and romantic together, so there is much to smile and squee about as well as to cry about.
Dean and Pharm's best friends Win and Team also have a very cute secondary romance. They got a show of their own called Between Us this fall, which is still airing as of the publication of this post. I'm enjoying it so far! Win and Team's backstories are both sadder than I would have guessed from their scenes in UWMA, but overall they're a pretty normal college relationship, as are the other side ships in the show, so it's pretty funny contrasting that with Dean and Pharm absolutely going through it in the background.
Finally, I also enjoyed UWMA's depictions of its various friends groups, especially the trio of Pharm, Team, and Manow and the supportive female friendships (Manaow & Del, Aum & Giffy, etc), and family relationships. Overall, though this series was not without some flaws, it's another one where I found myself getting really attached to a bunch of the secondary characters as well as the leads and going along eagerly for the emotional ride, whether that was melting into a puddle over the aforementioned Intense Gazes, happily squeeing over the kiss under the makeshift broccoli "mistletoe", or sobbing so hard I could barely read the subtitles over a certain reunion.
Vincenzo (MDL)
This Kdrama was written by the same screenwriter as Good Manager and there's a lot of thematic similarities. Both storylines boil down to a clever man fighting a corrupt and evil corporation with the help of a quirky yet endearing cast of secondary characters. However, Vincenzo's main character is a mafia consigliere rather than an accountant, so there's a great deal more action and violence in this drama. Overall, I thought both shows were a ton of fun in both similar and unique ways and would be hard-pressed to pick which one I liked more.
Where Your Eyes Linger (MDL)
A Korean BL about a teenage heir and his lifelong best friend and bodyguard, full of yearning and homoerotic wrestling.
Why R U? (MDL)
The filming of this Thai BL was impacted by Covid-19 lockdowns and the plot ended up a rather confusing mess, tbh. There's a whole thing where one character discovers his sister(!?) has been writing erotic RPF fanfiction about him and another boy on campus and she may or may not accidentally curse him to fall into a BL TV show when he (understandably, imo) freaks out about this. Idk, it was unclear. By the third episode, I gave up on following that whole thing and started skipping through every scene that didn't involve one or both of the two characters from the secondary relationship: Fighter (Zee) and Tutor (Saint). Once I switched over to this DIY Fighter/Tutor cut, I found the series much more enjoyable. Zee and Saint have outstanding chemistry together, and as a bonus, the characters are explicitly vers. There are no onscreen sex scenes like Kinnporsche or Love in the Air, but a lot of intensely hot and borderline pornographic foreplay.
All in all, it was a pretty good year for television! Did you have any favorite shows?
Abbott Elementary (season one)
I really enjoyed this! Quinta Brunson was one of my favorite Buzzfeed stars and she did really well as an idealistic young (but not brand new) teacher in an under-funded urban Philadelphia school. The supporting cast was also great and the show was laugh-out-loud funny, while also balancing touching moments and a sometimes subtle, sometimes not-so-subtle through-line of outrage about the dreadful conditions both teachers and students are subjected to by this country's indifference to education.
Bad Buddy (MDL)
My favorite non-censored BL drama to date. A fairly typical Thai university BL with an enemies-to-lovers storyline that was elevated by great acting and chemistry between the two leads. Ohm as Pat and Nanon as Pran were both delightful and lit up the screen with their charisma.
Despite being low heat, this series had some fantastic kisses (see above) and a great deal of horseplay-as-foreplay that made it clear the boys had an active, enthusiastically consensual, and almost certainly vers sexual relationship. Bad Buddy also did a great job portraying a healthy relationship without making it boring. Once they got over a few initial speedbumps, the conflict was primarily external, and Pat and Pran communicated really openly and well with each other about their needs, desires, and boundaries.
The series was not without some minor flaws, like the stupid shooting subplot (which was, at least, thankfully short), but I was very charmed overall and also appreciated how deliberately it set out to subvert some of the common stereotypes of the BL genre.
Side relationship spoiler, as an additional selling point:
There's also a lovely side f/f relationship.
Beyond Evil (MDL)
This gripping police thriller Kdrama about a cold case that gets revived after a new victim is discovered left me with a horrendous TV hangover that hasn't fully gone away.
The plot was twisty and intense, the central performance by Shin Ha-kyun as Lee Dong-sik was spectacular, the chemistry between the two male leads was strong and extremely slashy, and I also developed so much affection for some of the secondary characters. I rewatched this show twice AND it was my third most read fandom of the year after MDZS/CQL and Kinnporsche, and I still miss themmmm. 😭
I saw this tweet right around the time I was finishing the show for the first time and it's stuck with me as a really good description of the vibes:
"Here I thought I was going to watch a show about a very strange man who was horny for the idea that his partner was a serial killer but instead I got a show about how something can absolutely destroy you and then you can just exist, while destroyed, pretty much indefinitely. There are a lot of stories about overcoming trauma and maybe Beyond Evil will become that eventually but as of episode 10 it's really about how you can NOT overcome trauma — how a whole town can not overcome it — but keep going bc what else is there to do."
Which is not to say the show is fully bleak or depressing. Many of us could use a few more soup nights with friends like the Manyang butcher shop crew in our lives. The two male leads are also very much a Weirdo4Weirdo pairing, and that's always a blast, as are their frequent cat-and-mouse games with each other.
Beyond Evil had some of the standard flaws of its genre (in particular, there's a scene where some of the "good" cops chase a journalist away from one of their colleagues that was played off as a good thing in a way that had me wincing), but it was openly critical of many aspects of Korea's law enforcement practices and didn't hold back in its depiction of the ways in which those in power manipulate public sympathy and the workings of the justice system for their own ends, either.
ANYWAY, I could keep rambling on, but I'll spare you. As I said, I just developed so much affection for a bunch of the characters in this drama, and it was one of my favorites of the year.
You can check out some of my recs for it here.
Business Proposal (MDL)
I binged this Kdrama in three days while sick with a head cold. A mostly silly, slapsticky romantic comedy, perfect when you're in the mood for some light viewing. Despite the drama's insubstantiality, I did appreciate that the main couple had common interests and professional respect for each other (the heroine's job as a food scientist was an interesting twist on more common fictional character professions like chef or bartender) that deepened their romantic attraction. I also liked the solid and supportive male-male and female-female friendships.
Color Rush (MDL)
This Korean BL show about a teenage "Mono" (a person who can only see color in the presence of another person, called their "Probe") was darker than I expected and had some very interesting worldbuilding, but was marred by a typical Korean dead fish kiss.
A First Love Story (MDL)
Short and sweet friends-to-lovers Korean BL from Strongberry, so it is higher heat and with more realistic kisses than most Korean BLs. But when I say short, I'm not kidding. It's about 15 minutes total.
Good Manager (aka Chief Kim) (MDL)
This office comedy Kdrama about a mob accountant who joins a major company hoping to embezzle money and instead ends up in a fight against corporate corruption was a blast! It was full of quirky yet endearing characters in the classic Kdrama style, but I especially enjoyed Lee Junho's performance as the "gluttonous sociopath" Seo Yul, who ends up having both a hilarious enemies-to-allies bromance with the main character and a surprisingly sweet crush on the female lead. As I said back in September:
Seo Yul is played by 2PM's Lee Junho and is arrogant, competent, ruthless, constantly decked out in perfectly tailored suits, and an absolute disaster of a human being who's a maximum of about two seconds from some kind of meltdown at any given moment. He's also eating something in probably 90% of his scenes, lol. Where is the fandom for this man???
The fandom is, alas, tiny despite the slash fodder. My kingdom for a vee-style OT3 fic with Seo Yul as the hinge... 😢
Heartstopper
Very sweet and touching British BL-style teen romance.
He's Coming To Me (MDL)
A sweet paranormal romance between a college student and a ghost, this drama has more of a non-romance based plot than many BL romances, as the pair discovers that the ghost was murdered and work together to uncover his killer. I watched this mainly because I found Ohm so charming as Pat in Bad Buddy, but I really enjoyed it, and want to give a particular shout out to the beautifully acted and moving coming out scenes.
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (MDL)
A seaside romantic comedy between a small-town jack-of-all-trades and a city dentist who sets up a clinic in his neighborhood. The last few episodes got too melodramatic in my opinion, but prior to that I was really enjoying the slow burn. I do love a good bickering couple, and the chemistry between the two leads was great. There was also a love triangle subplot that was handled less annoyingly than most (I say this as an avowed hater of love triangles), but would have been better if they'd just gone full poly triad, imnsho. This drama was another with a nice cast of quirky yet endearing secondary characters; I especially loved Kim Young-ok as Kim Gam-ri. According to MDL, she's called South Korea's "National Grandma" and it's easy to see why!
Imposters (season one)
I'd somehow never heard of this show despite it being five years old, but my spouse found it on Netflix and wanted to watch it, so we gave it a shot and thought it was entertaining. We are still working on season two, but did finish the first season. It's about a con artist who marries people and then steals all their money. Three of her past marks team up to track her down, and find her in the middle of a con that takes some unexpected turns. Uma Thurman has a small role that she appears to be having a lot of fun with.
Kinnporsche (season one) (MDL)
I always feel like this one's a little bit of a hard sell because of the mafia thing, the epic levels of secondhand embarrassment in the second episode (it does decrease significantly after that, thank goodness), and some pacing and tonal dissonance issues, but also, some scenes were so incredibly, outrageously iddy for me that I felt like I was losing my mind and possibly just straight up imagining their existence and manifesting them somehow from the murky depths of my brain onto the screen.
Besides... that, which I realize is a highly subjective selling point since your id may or may not align with mine in this regard, the series does some other stuff objectively well, including solid acting, gorgeous cinematography, and some of the most beautifully filmed sex scenes ever committed to film. It's also an interesting experience in slow-building dread, as many things that seem kind of silly or implausible in the beginning hit very differently by the end.
Unlike a bunch of these other shows, Kinnporsche also ended up with a fairly active fandom. It has a plot that isn't purely romance-based, with plenty of opportunities for canon divergence, and a relatively large cast of characters with lots of complicated history and relationships with each other, so there's more scope for fic than a typical BL romance. Sadly, considering how much fic is being produced, I've had mixed luck finding fic that I'm interested in reading, but there are some gems out there in the wilds of AO3.
More rambles on Kinnporsche here.
Love In the Air (MDL)
The first half of this Thai BL involves a D/s relationship between a bratty college freshman and a smoking hot older bad boy mechanic/architect; the second, a smarmy rich boy trying to convince the snarky power bottom who blew his mind in a one night stand to date him. Both the two main couples had great chemistry and the sex scenes were very hot. (Not Kinnporsche level, but not far off.) In addition to the main series, there's a 70 minute special episode that was a couple of conveniently placed throw pillows away from being outright porn.
Despite the good smut, I struggled with it a bit in the first half because the college freshman was too dumb for my taste, and in the second because I felt like one of the characters needed therapy more than a boyfriend. I ultimately found the series to be more entertaining than satisfying.
Mr Queen (MDL)
Going back to horrendous TV hangovers... this show was giving me one before I even finished watching it. I really liked Kim Jung-hyun in Crash Landing on You last year, so decided to check out more of his dramas this year. He was really good in Mr. Queen as well, and had great chemistry and an excellent slow burn, Schemer4Schemer romance with the main character, but the real stand-out performance was Shin Hye-sun as a modern male chef trapped in the body of a Joseon era queen. She clearly had a blast with the role and knocked it completely out of the park. Na In-woo as the queen's obsessively devoted cousin Kim Byeong-in also made me insane in a good way; his descent as he became increasingly unhinged from reality was like a slow motion trainwreck I couldn't look away from. Despite a somewhat disappointing ending (I was luckily spoiled in advance, which helped in this case, since it turned out to be not as bad as I feared), if I had to pick one favorite show of the year, it would probably be this one. The small number of fics continues to kill me. 😭
My Beautiful Man (MDL)
Man, I really wanted to like this Japanese BL. A lot of people with excellent taste rave about it, and it was objectively well done. It certainly had a killer first kiss! But I just never managed to connect with the characters and something about it left me cold.
Old Fashion Cupcake (MDL)
Another Japanese BL drama, and this one I did like almost as much as I wanted to. It was a sweet romance between a 39 year old office worker who's stuck in a rut, and his 29 year old coworker who helps him rediscover joy. My only complaint was that the somewhat bland final episode was a little bit of a letdown after the absolute top-tier love confession scene in the second-to-last episode, but it was nevertheless a deeply satisfying and life-affirming drama that could leave almost anyone with a smile on their face and an intense craving for strawberry pancakes.
Our Flag Means Death (season one)
Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet was the second most popular ship on AO3 this year, producing more than 10,000 works in less than a year, so I watched this show really hoping to get interested in it in a fannish way. I do love a good juggernaut. Sadly, that didn't happen, although I read a handful of fics and would be open to reading more, but I did think the show was a lot of fun and am looking forward to season two!
Roommates of Poongduck 304 (MDL)
I've enjoyed the heck out of a lot of het and gen Kdramas, but I keep trying Korean BLs and not disliking them, but not being exactly wowed either. Roommates of Poongduck 304 was one of the ones I enjoyed the most. Like most Korean BLs, it has relatively slow pacing despite its shorter length, but it held my interest better than some of the other Korean BLs I’ve tried. My guess is that the difference was due to the rather assertive and argumentative main characters, whose bickering was a stark contrast to the more reserved couples in many other Korean BLs I've tried. Anyway, I enjoy a good bickering couple, and I enjoyed this BL. As an extra bonus: real (not dead fish) kisses!
Semantic Error (MDL)
Semantic Error had a lot of the same qualities as Roommates of Poongduck 304. It's a slow build enemies-to-lovers storyline that managed to hold my attention well despite Korea's leisurely BL pacing and low heat, thanks to the unusually good (especially for Korea) chemistry between the leads, and the active relationship dynamic between them that involved a lot of bickering and playfulness. It also had multiple good kisses, which seems hard to find in both Korean and Japanese BL. Semantic Error was a huge hit, so hopefully more Korean BL studios will take the hint!
Anyway, I would rate both Semantic Error and Roommates similarly, but Semantic Error wins the title of my favorite Korean BL so far by a slim margin because:
- I like the secondary characters, especially Jaeyoung's friend Choi Yuna (bisexual besties), better than the ones in Roommates of Poongduck 304
- I thought the prank war in the first episodes of Semantic Error was funnier than the equivalent in Roommates of Poongduck 304, although both were entertaining
- On a purely shallow and entirely subjective note (YMMV), all four leads of both shows are very good-looking men, but Park Seoham, who plays Jang Jaeyoung in Semantic Error, is so ridiculously next level that I occasionally missed subtitles and had to rewind because I got distracted staring at him. 🤦♀️ He even looks incredible in his stupid all-red prank war getup.
Like, duuuude.... unfair.
Seventeen in the Soop (MDL)
A reality show starring the guys from the K-pop group Seventeen, which a friend got me into this year. Lots of cute interpersonal interactions, and an all-around pleasant and relaxing watch.
I also watched a bunch of episodes of Going Seventeen, the group's variety show, but didn't manage to finish a full season. Some of my favorite episodes included Four Wheeled Rider (Part 1, Part 2), The Tag (Part 1, Part 2), and the Don't Lie episodes (I: Part 1, Part 2; II: Part 1, Part 2; III: Part 1, Part 2). A couple more bits of favorite Seventeen-related content I watched this year included the Mafia Dance and the Hybe Picnic (alongside other Hybe groups, including TXT and Le Sserafim), especially the dance battle (Part 1, Part 2).
The Eclipse (MDL)
A Thai BL with a strong pro-democracy message, by a trans director and former member of Thailand's parliament. I watched this series as it was airing and anticipated it eagerly every week, but ultimately ended up with somewhat mixed feelings. The plot built slowly to a conclusion that felt rushed, confusing, and not entirely satisfying. It reminded me a little of Word of Honor's ending in that regard, in fact, and I was left wondering if it was originally intended to have more episodes just like WoH?
Despite my frustrations with the final episodes, I enjoyed the show a lot overall thanks to its strong cast and the tenderness with which it handled its teen romances. First and Khaotung as Akk and Ayan and Neo and Louis as Kan and Thua all gave outstanding performances. Both couples had fantastic chemistry, and the romances were both gentle and sweet slow burns that were written and filmed with a lot of compassion for all four characters and their situations. Some of the acting took my breath away with the poignant portrayal of the first, tentative steps towards accepting queer love and happiness. It was lovely and heart-filling in the best way and I'm grateful for having watched the series.
Khaotung, First, and Neo will all star together in another GMMTV drama next year called Only Friends that looks much higher heat than The Eclipse, and after enjoying their performances so much in The Eclipse I'm planning to check it out for sure. Here's the trailer. The writer and director of The Eclipse are teaming up with Ohm and Fluke from Until We Meet Again (see below) for another BL drama called 609 Bedtime Story that started airing on December 2. Here's the trailer for that one.
To My Star (MDL)
Another Korean BL. Had some good moments, and I liked the actor who played the actor character - he was quite charming. But the series overall was fine but didn't wow me.
Until We Meet Again (MDL)
The actor who plays Dean in this Thai BL clearly minored in Intense Gazes at university, damn. There's a scene where the main character handfeeds him a sweet that is practically obscene.
ANYWAY.
If you want to just straight up swoon, there's not a show in this list that can top this one for pure romance. I enjoyed the heck out of it, despite its unfortunate over-reliance on some tired seme/uke tropes that left me frustrated with the skinship scenes and wishing that it had been made even a couple years later than it was.
It's a reincarnation/fated lovers story about Pharm and Dean, a pair of college students who discover they are the reincarnations of Intouch and Korn, two students from the same school who committed suicide about 30 years earlier. ⚠️Please note that the double suicide is depicted rather graphically onscreen in the opening scene and there are periodic flashbacks to it, as well as the events leading to it, which include physical abuse and homophobia. Although there is angst and the cuter scenes between Korn and Intouch are rather bittersweet knowing their fates, both couples are quite sweet and romantic together, so there is much to smile and squee about as well as to cry about.
Dean and Pharm's best friends Win and Team also have a very cute secondary romance. They got a show of their own called Between Us this fall, which is still airing as of the publication of this post. I'm enjoying it so far! Win and Team's backstories are both sadder than I would have guessed from their scenes in UWMA, but overall they're a pretty normal college relationship, as are the other side ships in the show, so it's pretty funny contrasting that with Dean and Pharm absolutely going through it in the background.
Finally, I also enjoyed UWMA's depictions of its various friends groups, especially the trio of Pharm, Team, and Manow and the supportive female friendships (Manaow & Del, Aum & Giffy, etc), and family relationships. Overall, though this series was not without some flaws, it's another one where I found myself getting really attached to a bunch of the secondary characters as well as the leads and going along eagerly for the emotional ride, whether that was melting into a puddle over the aforementioned Intense Gazes, happily squeeing over the kiss under the makeshift broccoli "mistletoe", or sobbing so hard I could barely read the subtitles over a certain reunion.
Vincenzo (MDL)
This Kdrama was written by the same screenwriter as Good Manager and there's a lot of thematic similarities. Both storylines boil down to a clever man fighting a corrupt and evil corporation with the help of a quirky yet endearing cast of secondary characters. However, Vincenzo's main character is a mafia consigliere rather than an accountant, so there's a great deal more action and violence in this drama. Overall, I thought both shows were a ton of fun in both similar and unique ways and would be hard-pressed to pick which one I liked more.
Where Your Eyes Linger (MDL)
A Korean BL about a teenage heir and his lifelong best friend and bodyguard, full of yearning and homoerotic wrestling.
Why R U? (MDL)
The filming of this Thai BL was impacted by Covid-19 lockdowns and the plot ended up a rather confusing mess, tbh. There's a whole thing where one character discovers his sister(!?) has been writing erotic RPF fanfiction about him and another boy on campus and she may or may not accidentally curse him to fall into a BL TV show when he (understandably, imo) freaks out about this. Idk, it was unclear. By the third episode, I gave up on following that whole thing and started skipping through every scene that didn't involve one or both of the two characters from the secondary relationship: Fighter (Zee) and Tutor (Saint). Once I switched over to this DIY Fighter/Tutor cut, I found the series much more enjoyable. Zee and Saint have outstanding chemistry together, and as a bonus, the characters are explicitly vers. There are no onscreen sex scenes like Kinnporsche or Love in the Air, but a lot of intensely hot and borderline pornographic foreplay.
All in all, it was a pretty good year for television! Did you have any favorite shows?
