The Eclipse (2022)

one of the best shows of 2022 (and one character that almost ruined it all for me)

This show was definitely one of my top BLs of 2022 and even though I was a little sceptic at first, First and Khaotung totally sold this show to me in the very first episode (mind you I don't watch trailers). So, I was hooked.

Story: I am a little torn about this one. I really loved the show, I loved the characters, and I loved the message behind the story. But, of course, it wasn't perfect. There were a few minor and major plot holes and a few inconsistencies, which I happily overlooked. But there was one thing that I just couldn't brush off. It bugged me so much that I even had to drop my rating from 10 to 9.0. My frustration lies with the character Thua and how they completely ruined him for me. But I will rant about this later. Over all, I really enjoyed this story. To see the characters grow and learn from each other and accept themselves for who they are and fight for what they believe in was really inspiring and nice to watch (but also heartbreaking at some points).

Casting/Actors: I am so in love with First's and Khaotung's acting, they did an amazing job portraying Akk and Ayan and their chemistry was through the roof. I've seen them in other projects before and I have to say that they did a great job already, but improved quite a lot nonetheless. Same goes for the rest of the cast. They did an amazing job and made the story what it is. I would even go as far and say that I would have not enjoyed this show as much if it wasn't for them.

Music: I absolutely adore the intro song. I listen to it every day. Khaotung has an amazing singing voice. And the version with First and Khaotung singing it together is just *chef's kiss*.

Rewatch Value: My initial reaction was to rate it 5/10 since I'm not one to rewatch things lightly, but I think that this show definitely has a great rewatch value, since you see a lot of things with different eyes after the finale. But the ending left a sour taste in my mouth, so I couldn't give it more stars.

My Rant About Thua: From the start I was a Thua-fan. I was totally on his side and was rooting for him, when he decided to finally speak up and tell the school about the one who was behind the curse, I was cheering... until the moment he decided to go off topic and out his friends in front of the entire school (mind you these people bullied Thua for being gay for years). Which is a plot twist a lot of BLs like to pull to get some tension and drama. I'm not only extremely tired of this trope, it is also almost always handled very poorly (looking at you Bad Buddy). And it was no different here. I would have loved to see Thua realizing that he went too far and regretting his impulsive decision and learning from his mistake. Instead, the story took the easy way out and just.. brushed it off and all the characters (especially the main couple who went through something traumatic) just collectively decided to forget about it. They didn't even think it was necessary for him to apologize for it (you know, the bare effing minimum). And if that wasn't already bad enough, shortly after Thua outed his friends (only approximately 10 minutes later) we had to watch Thua and his boyfriend have a coming out to their peers. I'm really glad that he had the comfort of coming out on his own terms and at his own time. If only your friends were given the same choice... :))
And to add fire to the fuel, Thua gave a speech in the final saying: "Coming out doesn't require just our courage. We need an understanding and supporting community and family as well. We are lucky you guys understand us."
Truly the biggest middle finger I have ever seen.

Lire davantage

Close to great

This did well with the message of pushing back against conformity as well as capturing the painful experience of youth being faced with monumental pressure during their school years; and the toll it takes on them.

In particular, I was glad to see a Queer character truly given the space to breathe and take accepting their sexuality at their own pace without pressure from their partner.

My big let-downs:

1.) The protesters needed more background to them.
2.) Thua's forceful outing of Akk is never addressed or truly called out. For a drama that portrays young LGBT+ people realizing their identity and struggling with coming out due to legitimate fear and anxiety, you'd think they wouldn't gloss over something as important as this.

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THE BEST GMMTV BL OF 2022 - Not ME's Brother

Doing this review to highlight this cast and IMO the cast is full of actors who have not been fully utilized by GMMTV properly and I'm happy to see them all together here. This show was very promising led by a fantastic performance by Khao.
From Khao to First to Neo to Louis to AJ and even Pawin I must say this is a really strong cast of actors IMO who should have been far more lauded more for their performances. This is also a mini reunion for the Cause You're My Boy cast with Neo/Khao and AJ.
Another Classic BL to add to the collection. this was so well done and the finale episode was so powerful. the emphasis on the first part of the episode about not calling being gay abnormal and emphasising that loving some of the same sex is normal and should be the norm.. we should not have to COME OUT. loving a man or loving a woman should be the NORM. props to the entire cast on this.

The Eclipse joins Bad Buddy and Not Me as GMMTV's best BL shows released in the past 2 years. this was such a breath of fresh air and was truly a masterpiece.

Lire davantage

This show has so much potential but- yeah there's a but.

This series is honestly a potential wasted series. It has so much potential, an amazing cast but the writing is underwhelming. The plot is poorly written. It has so many rooms for improvement. Like I don't see why the students are even protesting in the first place because the school rules shown till now i.e. episode 10 is neither too restrictive nor too pressuring. What's so hard about wearing school uniforms and not using phones during school hours? And even the way they brought the curse, honestly if it had the paranormal aspect with an actual curse it would have been much better. The plot started off interesting but the pace and the way it unfolded was a huge turnoff. The twist in episode 11 didn't feel justifying in anyway and I didn't like the way it came out. Sigh! Anyway to some extent the compensating factor are the actors. They have portrayed their characters well from Ayan and Akk to Kan and Thua and even the other side characters. Their acting is good, their chemistry is bang on and I know I can actually finish up the whole series just seeing their chemistry and that's also the reason why it's a 7.5 and not a 5. And yes I finished up the whole series.

P.S: I haven't seen any product placement so far and that's a surprising factor too.

Lire davantage

a really refreshing take on "dark" dramas

whatever you think this series will be- it's better.

from the acting to the plot, hell even the editing and camerawork, they are telling a story- and one you more than likely have not been told before. there were things that i think could have been done better, but overall any little mistake were entirely forgotten two seconds later simply because of how well this show pulls you in, which i think is honestly extremely impressive since i'm someone who tends to be overly picky.

one thing i really want to point out is how well the plot was written. i think a show like this sounds easier to write than it is. it's a specific concept, and because of that, it pertains to itself in a way that (in my opinion) makes it hard to create something new and original. with that in mind, all of their plot twists were insanely original and fitting, and flowed beautifully. was the show dramatic? sure. was there a lot going on? at times, yes. but did it *feel* drawn out, confusing, or unnecessary? no.

also, the acting? i loved first in not me, so to see him essentially play the exact opposite character and deliver another amazing performance was wonderfully unexpected. and khaotung?! he's a very familiar face to me but i had never really paid his acting any mind until now, and i'm pleasantly surprised. him as aye was probably one of the best decisions they could have made with this show because i can't imagine anyone else killing that role the way he did. and don't even get me started on neo and louis, they simply do not disappoint.

while i do think it lost steam towards the end and had some questionable moments (ahem teacher sani?), it was overall definitely a great watch.

Lire davantage

seems so good

nice to see First and other familiar faces. I like the tone and the story. acting is good and just generally the chemistry is amazing. I am frustrated I started it as it means I can't binge it. this is a binging series otherwise you don't get so hooked and feel the slow burn between the two leads. I will defo rewatch to get that excited feeling I got. it's so call to see First like this, he often does dark roles or is the main hitter in something fighting like... so a bit of romance is nice for him . I don't know of I'm just filling up the 500 word thing I genuinely am happy with the show and just wanted to express so in 10 but it wouldn't let me. so I will went on a tangent

Lire davantage

It may not deliver what it promised, but it’s still good.

Although it’s set in a high school, I appreciate the unique twist.

The positive: I love that the script tackled some very important issues in a mature way. It also has a great cast in which the actors did an excellent job portraying their characters. The cinematography was visually stunning and I loved the visual references of the moon used throughout the series.

The negative: Unfortunately, the main problem was the inconsistent pacing. It starts off very strong but loses momentum towards the end. There are also some aspects of the script that’s not fully developed.

The in-between: I thought the ending was great and uplifting. However, there is one aspect/story element towards the end that threw the pacing off. It didn’t have a smooth transition when the story element was introduced.

Random Note: As always, I love seeing familiar locations used from different series. Ayan’s house was used in too many series for me to list now. As for the café, it was used in Baker Boys and Enchanté.

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A Promising Mystery Turned Into a Clichéd Melodrama

The Eclipse set high expectations in the initial episodes only not to deliver on them afterwards. It lost me somewhere along the way, probably after episode six.

The biggest flaw of this series is its inconsistency. It begins by making it clear that it will break the clichés of BL series, but it eventually gets mired in them. It fleshes out the characters so well, but then makes them do things that are completely out of character. It promises a slow-burn romance, but rushes all character development in two episodes. It has an intriguing mystery at its core, but it drags this mystery so much that it is easy to lose interest in it. There also was only one plot twist that I did not see coming.

The curse subplot – do not even get me started on it. Although the initial incidents could be taken seriously if one suspends a little disbelief, the ones afterwards were not threatening in the slightest, so the characters' panicked reactions seemed stupid to me. Furthermore, there were so many people involved with the curse that the whodunnit turned into a mess of plot holes in the end. When the final revelation happened, and I realized that I am happy that an allegedly good character just did something bad because at least he put an end to the dramatics, I knew that the script was sloppily written.

As if this was not enough, the romance between Akk and Ayan was handled poorly. I liked their dynamic so much because they were not a stereotypical BL couple. They intrigued me, and I thought that I had finally found an enemies to lovers queer love story done right. This turned out not to be the case, though. Instead of letting their romance develop naturally, the scriptwriters started forcing it into overused tropes for no reason, which resulted in unnecessary drama and a lot of predictability. At some point, the main couple lost me completely. I could not understand what drew Ayan to Akk. Although the chemistry between the two actors was hot, I stopped rooting for their characters' relationship.
Notably, the opposite happened with the second couple. Although I did not care about them initially, they eventually won me over. I think that the development of their relationship was smoother and more interesting than that of the main couple.

Overall, aside from the brilliant acting, which kept the sinking plot afloat, this series is not much different from other high-school BL romances. The mystery seems to have been introduced just to disguise the fact that this story is a cliché.

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Overall, Nicely-Done

I remember seeing the teaser during the GMMTV line-up event, and since then I've been patiently anticipating it. And it didn't disappoint at all. Overall, The Eclipse was a brilliant drama, full of impact, importance, emotions, and a nice detailed plot.

Let's Dive In.

I was not expecting to have enjoyed watching Khaotung and First together so much, but god, did they have some of the best chemistry I've seen so far in a GMMTV series this year. I feel like they're GMMTV's little lab rats with not being stuck with one pairing, (First and Gawin in Not me, Khaotung and Pod in Tonhon Chonlatee), and it really just shows how versatile of an actor those two are. They played off of one another emotions very well, especially during the more emotional scenes. I think the only thing that is a little off-putting to me is really just why they fell in love with one another. Besides Ayan's constant flirting, I can't seem to understand why Akk would fall for him unless Ayan was somehow his gay awakening, or just the first guy to give him attention like that. Other than that, they had a great connection, great physical scenes, and an amazing performance.

Moving on to Khan and Thua which is really why I was watching. I loved Neo and Louis in FUTS (actually the only good thing about that series) and when I saw they were going to be back together again, I was stoked. And they were only 10x better the second go-around. Watching Khan be so in love with Thua but not understand how to let it show or even be okay with his feeling during the beginning was very poignant to their story. The secret identity, the secret kiss, the secret glances, it was all timed so perfectly. And thank god, their kissing got better too (you know what I'm talking about if you've seen FUTS)!

The plot was a little weak in some spots, like the whole "curse" thing about the school. It felt a little anti-climatic to me for it to have been Akk behind some of the chaos at the school, and I wish they would've played up more on it since it was such an integral part of the teaser/trailer. I think Thua also being behind it was a nice twist, but still, not all that interesting. The most interesting was definitely the plot twist with Dika and the Chadok. Made me more emotional than I realized I was.

Rating:

Story: 8/10 - Great characters, and a really nice plot. A little weak in a few places, but overall, it was enjoyable to watch. The couples were also very entertaining.

Acting: 9/10 - Superb. Especially First and Khaotung. Neo did such an amazing job as well and his acting has seriously improved since FUTS. Everyone else did excellently.

Music: 7/10 - quite nice.

Rewatch Value: 1/10 - Rarely rewatch anything, even if I enjoyed it. But I will be watching more video edits.

I highly recommend this series. It's one of the better ones to come out of GMMTV this year. It's really been a hit or a miss with them, literally nothing in the middle.

Lire davantage

A wastage of a great cast

The Eclipes is a wannabe ”The Gifted”, minus the fantasiacal aspect of the series and most importantly, minus the strongest aspect of The Gifted, an actual enemy.

We have Akk, the perfect school boy and prefect, under the command of Teacher Chadok. His one and only motive is to uphold the reputation of Suppalo as the top school in Thailand. The biggest obstacles in his path are a trio of protestors who demand that the school rules be modified to a modern version which supports students more in their endeavour to be freer. A new addition is the new school boy Aye who is from the rival top school in the country.

Akk, who idolises his predecessor school prefect and worships Teacher Chadok does his best to stop these nefarious elements but Aye is a new sort of obstacle. He's somebody Akk can't figure out. And his own feelings whenever he's around the cocky Aye are a jumble of "I hate him" and getting alternately flustered and impressed by Aye's shamelessness and outrageous courage. And as Akk falls first, Aye too can't help being drawn to this school prefect who seems to be so perfect on the outside but is crumbling on the inside.

I have nothing but admiration for Kahotung and First. This is both of theirs, as I would call it, "first proper main roles". Tonhon Chonlattee (Khaotung's first main role) and The Shipper (First's first main role) were a huge disservice to these actors and a painful memory most viewers wanted to erase. They brought the best of themselves to the screen here.

Broken souls recognise one another and Aye sees just another lost boy in Akk. They become a safe space for each other as Aye tries to unveil the mystery behind his uncle Dika’s suicide, who is known as a traitor in Suppalo, while Akk tries to deal with his emotions and newfound revolutionary ideologies.

That brings me to my biggest problem with The Eclipse. Where. Is. The. Plot. I loved how they presented Akk and Aye with the "us against the world trope" but it all kind of falls flat when you wonder what are they even fighting for? Aye for one isn't into the protest, he's just trying to find out about his uncle and thinks the protest is linked to it. He does have a strong free will and reads 1984 and all so there's that, however he does not join or take a leadership role in the protest.

For Akk this is a part of his character development. He has a huge redemption arc which is done so very well that I wonder why on earth these script writers couldn't come up with a better story line because all I see are some dumbass teenagers who want to wear chokers and slashed jeans to school.

The "dumbass teenagers" as I call them face near death experiences attributed to the "Suppalo curse" and eventually we stop focussing on the protest against the rules and turn to a protest to find the one behind the curse. This of course makes more sense as the school did not investigate properly into who was behind those actions, but I can’t help but feel annoyed at how the rules were just brushed over. Without an idea of the rules, without an understanding of the alleged infringement on their rights, I feel no sympathy for these kids at all. I am even more mystified by the behaviour of these adults who actually catalyse the protest with how they deal with the protestors. Call their parents suspend them and send them home. Done!

There is no real enemy in The Eclipse. Even Teacher Chadok is later made out to be a victim of sorts. Uncle Dika’s death is unrelated to all this. It's like the writers didn't know what to do with the story and end the protest so they took a random left turn into shitville ending. There's a grand exposé which yes, I did not see that one coming, given how utterly stupid it was.

After twelve episodes if you ask me what was it all even about I'd say Akk and Aye because they were truly the only thing this drama had to offer. There were portrayals of suicidal thoughts, onscreen suicide and open talks on depression (Trigger Warnings for these) which I definitely appreciated; this is yet another gmmtv series which has been very positive about being lgbt.

There is a side gay couple who made for cute filler scenes but in the very end the inconsistent actions of one of them, followed by the poor explanations he had to offer, ruined their story for me too.

As a character driven drama, The Eclipse is definitely great but the plot aspect is not so much and ultimately character growth does derive from the plot so I suggest leaving your brain at the door for this one.

It is very hard for me to rate The Eclipse.

Story? Giving it a 5/10 as a compromise for how poor the plot was but how well written the character arcs were.

Acting? Have a 8.5/10. KhaoFirst, you dropped your crowns, hope there are more main roles projects for them in the future. I take points off because the side actors were so bad, particularly Teacher Chadok.

Music? Nothing spectacular but The Eclipse does not have the sound effects which many viewers dislike and the background noise balance is way better. I noticed it during the beach scenes where in most dramas the waves usually sound too loud.

As for re-watch value, I will rewatch certain Akk and Aye episodes. The second book in this series is in the works but if a second season is ever made (can't imagine why), I don't think I'll be watching it. I don't regret watching The Eclipse but the drama in itself is very forgettable and the worse part is that it could've easily been so much better.

Lire davantage

The eclipse

nice to see First and other familiar faces. I like the tone and the story. acting is good and just generally the chemistry is amazing. I am frustrated I started it as it means I can't binge it. this is a binging series otherwise you don't get so hooked and feel the slow burn between the two leads. I will defo rewatch to get that excited feeling I got. it's so call to see First like this, he often does dark roles or is the main hitter in something fighting like... so a bit of romance is nice for him . I don't know of I'm just filling up the 500 word thing I genuinely am happy with the show and just wanted to express so in 10 but it wouldn't let me. so I will went on a tangent

Lire davantage

Nice cast, promising plot... gone bad

I expected a lot from this series (and at first i enjoyed it) but the ending disappointed me so much: they were treating so many important topics and then everthing was ruined by: hole-plots; a bunch of situations happening without a reason and terrible behaviours!

1) Thua's plot twist destroyed every interest i had in the 2nd couple: all the characters acted like he never did anything bad.
2) Outing is something i would never excuse, it's such a delicated topic, i hate how they handled it.
3) Dika's relationship with the Headmaster (or was it a teacher? idk) felt unnecessary.
4) The three protesting guys could leave the school if they did not like the rules, or the Headmaster could expell them.
5) They mentioned that behind Akk's behaviours (regarding the curse) stood the Headmaster but then - when all the situation with Dika came out - they seemed to forget it (the Headmaster did not even apologize, he resigned at least).

And i could continue... but i won't. I'll just remember this series as a good (but imperfect) bl.

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