Split Personality

Weird title, I know, but this BL left the strangest impression on me. It’s like there were two different writers, with two different agendas, each pulling the show in opposite directions. Apologies, as this is going to be a long one!

Story
Unlike a lot of BLs, that are more “slice of life,” Dark Blue Kiss actually had somewhat of a plotline for both couples, moving their stories forward. Not much, mind you. What got me was the forward-thinking moments juxtaposed by backward-thinking moments. It’s like there was one writer who was really progressive, perhaps a member of the LGBTQ community who wanted to actually address important issues pertaining to sexuality within a BL. And then there was another writer who was nothing but a BL fangirl who wanted to fill the show full of awful tropes. It was confusing. On the one hand, we had the fear of coming out, how being closeted can put pressure and tension on a relationship, a real discussion concerning what it’s like to be a gay man (we’re still allergic to the word “gay” for some reason, though they got pretty close here) in Thai society, the experiences of a young gay man living with a very homophobic father and how that can in turn affect his psyche, and female characters that weren’t there as plot devices—this was all great writing. For all that BLs should be about the LGBTQ community, it’s rare to see a show that actually tackles the above situations without making them contrived for the sake of just getting a couple together. This was evident when Kao finally came out to his mother, and it was “I like men,” not just, “I like Pete.” That’s a mature moment where he’s acknowledging his sexuality, not just his current relationship, as though the two are mutually exclusive. Similarly, with Sun’s ex-girlfriend, we get to see Sun as a gay man. In a genre where “I don’t like men, I just like X” is so common, it was nice to see some real representation.

Unfortunately, we weren’t without downsides. This is where it seemed like some secondary writer came along and just started tossing in all the awful BL stereotypes they could think of, and it really brought the show down. I’ll list just the few that jump out immediately: Intense jealousy that overrode any sense of empathy, a secondary character unrealistically bent on destroying the main couple, a bizarre inability to communicate simple concepts to one another that led to major conflict, the insistence on labeling one part of an mm couple the husband and the other the wife, so much lying for no real reason, and characters acting in an unreasonable manner for nothing but the sake of drama. Pete’s jealousy was so toxic and so over the top, and the worst part was he was never called out on it, making it seem like the show’s saying it’s fine or even loving to act like you possess and control the person you are dating. It was pushed to the point where he had absolutely no empathy for Kao’s living situation, and none for Non, a kid (a minor) with a crappy homelife, clearly suffering psychological abuse. Non was wrong in what he did, but he was so comically wrong at the end it just wasn’t believable, which is too bad because the show at first did a good job building empathy for him, but then ruined it by making him do something so bad I just rolled my eyes and went, “yeah, sure he did.” This was nothing but justification for Pete’s jealousy with a “see, he was right,” moment. Kao was no innocent party. All he needed to do was sit down with Pete and really explain why he needed to tutor Non, and then explain to Non that he wasn’t interested in him. Choosing to lie, deceive, and ignore what was an obvious attraction to him was just ridiculous—nothing in his character suggests that he would act this way, and so it all came across as contrived for the sake of the plot. Sun and Mork were also constantly unable to communicate in an effective manner, leading to so many unnecessary spats. Who runs into a hospital and starts yelling at someone who just got the crap kicked out of them? No one, that’s who. Sure, Sun was uptight, but that just pushed the bounds of believability. Who gets into a punch out outside of a club and then instantly gets over it and has sex because their younger brother scolded them? Again, no one. Sun at least somewhat acknowledges the error of his ways, but before he does that I don’t see why Mork was willing to sit down with him. This was all drama for the sake of drama, instantly resolved drama at that, when their relationship had been building nicely on its own. Fighting a lot is not a sign of loving each other more—that is not a healthy mindset. And, of course, we couldn’t escape the husband/wife label. The obsession this genre has with forcing heteronormativity upon a homosexual couple. At least this seemed to mainly be side characters using these terms, and not the main couples, but I’d love to see a BL where no one uses these terms to refer to two men. Or, where one of the men does not want to be referred to as a wife, since he isn’t a woman. This just fosters the idea that in an mm couple, one of the men is ultimately just a replacement or stand-in for a woman, instead of acknowledging the differences between straight and gay couples. People try to play it off as a joke, but I find it toxic. Sun actually had a nice moment at the end when he asked who wanted to be top and who wanted to be bottom that night—and wouldn’t it have been nice for a show to actually present this as a conversation, and not just each part of the couple instantly getting cast in one role or the other for who knows what reason. Versatility is much more common in relationships, as opposed to simple hook-ups where people state their preferences up front. For BLs to never show this is crazy, and of course, Sun’s words are then taken as a joke. Once again, a tale of two writers.

These two above paragraphs combined just made for some confusing messages, which is why it seemed like two different people were pushing the story in two different directions. When you compare the difference between an honest conversation about sexuality to the “I hope you never stop being possessive conversation,” the difference is clear, and it’s not good. I prefer the mature, realistic story in the first paragraph to the BL stereotype-laden story of the second.

Acting/Characterization; Intimacy/Heat Level
The casting of the two main couples was really good. Both sets of men were evenly matched from a physical standpoint, and therefore went really well together. Neither came across looking like the big, strong dominant one with their docile partner. This is a personal preference, where I like characters that are on equal footing with one another. Of course, they don’t always need to be the same size for that to be the case, but I find when there’s a big disparity in looks or size, it’s really easy for writers to fall back on bad stereotypes. Plus, (for a more shallow opinion) these actors just looked aesthetically pleasing together.

I liked both Pete & Kao’s respective parents, though, in liking them, it does make me wonder why Kao ever thought his mother wouldn’t accept him. She was clearly a loving, supportive woman. Moreover, all the female characters had actual personalities, beyond being either an evil roadblock for the couples, or some stupid self-insert fangirl for the couples. That was a refreshing change of pace.

There was one side character in the friend group who’s whole role, character, and acting style was to yell every single line. I muted him.

Until Non’s story unraveled at the end, I thought he was well characterized as a kid suffering the physiological abuse of a homophobic father, who clearly suspects his son is gay. He was meant to be the villain, for sure, but the actor portrayed him so well (until whoever wrote the last part of the plot screwed him over) that it was impossible to dislike him. He seemed like such a real person.

This was a rare show in which I liked both couples, and both felt like they got appropriate screen time. Although, I found Pete & Kao to be the weaker of the two, for all the reasons outlined above. Possessiveness and jealousy are not good character traits, neither is lying—they are things you list as reasons you left your ex. I understood Pete’s obvious frustration with Kao’s inability to come out, but that doesn’t give him the right to control Kao, who seemed unable to stand up for himself. They had a lot of nice moments too, and it was clear they loved one another. Had their story simply been about coming out, it would have been a lot better. Their intimacy/heat level was really low, as it was undermined by a lot of what was happening in their story. For a couple that had been together so long, that seemed odd. At least it was implied that they were intimate, as you’d expect. What kisses were seen were real, although, in my opinion, the actor playing Kao kisses very strangely. Can’t put my finger on why.

Sun & Mork had a different dynamic, as this was the story of them getting together. It was nice to watch them grow together and come to understand one another through shared experiences, and then fall for each other. There was no love at first sight, or anything like that. Again, the intimacy/ heat seen here was quite tame. They had a few closed mouth kisses, but they got progressively better in those scenes. And there was a least one mature moment. I also liked that neither character was rich. It seems to be a thing in BLs, where one half of the couple needs to be rich and the other poor. It came across as very sweet and genuine when Sun wanted to help Mork out financially, even though neither of them had much money. It wasn’t just a rich kid trying to throw money at a poor kid, like Pete & Kao, to make their problems go away. I’d love to see a series with Sun & Mork as the main couple. There was a lot of good material to build from here.

Well, that was a book that I just wrote, but this show gave me all the thoughts! There’s more I could comment on, but I’ll leave it at that and hope the good parts of this show are what stands out to the viewers, and what more production companies aspire to create.

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Short but Compelling

Story
I wasn't expecting much out of this one, mainly due to the short run time. But I have to say, in the end I actually appreciated the brevity. With the exception of a few parts, I think it was about as long as it needed to be. There was no padding or filler—just a compelling plot that moved right along. My biggest issue with BLs is that they usually aren't about anything, aside from relationships, which I often don't find enough to really propel the plot. Therefore, I get quite bored. Not at all with this one. Here there was enough setup, with the mob backgrounds, to actually give the story some direction. It did focus on the relationship, but not at the sake of the story. BL may not even be the correct category for this. It was definitively about two men, not boys.

Personally, I don't like cute fluff, another common trapping of BL. Long Time No See was not cute, in the least. It has a sweet, tender moment or two, but it was actually pretty gritty, and a bit dark. That being said, I was so relieved at the ending. It could have been a tragedy, with the mob plot being what it was, but thankfully they decided to give this one a happy ending. I guess my only story complaint was that they could have fleshed out the mob and the rivalry going on there a bit more. It was very clear, but it could have had a touch more depth.

Acting
The acting is probably what stood out the most, overall, for me. The cast was very small. In as far as named characters go, I wasn't complaining. Another sticking point for me with BLs is when they jam-pack the cast and end up not giving enough screen time to anyone. That certainly wasn't the case here—no pointless secondary or tertiary couples. The mob, again, could have done with a few more members or goons, or whatnot. It came across a bit empty, and might have been more threatening had they showed more of the operation or manpower. The two mob bosses (if that's what they technically were) that they did show, were well acted. 

The fight & reveal scene was really well done. It could have been over the top with weeping and shouting, but both of the actor's opting for subtlety instead was what made the scene hit really hard.

Intimacy/Heat level
This might not be on everyone's review list, but when intimacy isn't done well, it takes me right out of the story. The couple had really great chemistry, and I was really surprised by the level of physical intimacy they displayed. No fake kisses, and seemingly no discomfort with any of the scenes. In the world of BL, that's really refreshing. The only other Korean BLs I've seen have been very poor in the intimacy department—scant scenes, fake/close mouthed kisses. This couple managed to be sexy and sweet at the same time, while looking real. And this is probably the first BL I've seen with partial nudity. It wasn't done in any kind of gratuitous manner. It complimented the scene in which it appeared. 

Their intimate scenes also weren't overly staged. Sometimes it's clear that the actors have perfected the timing and rhythm of their love scenes, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it can come across as very rehearsed. Here, especially the first intimate scene, they just seemed natural. 

Characterization
I separate this one from acting, as it has more to do with how the characters were written. I found both leads to be engaging characters with fairly believable motivations, although, this is one of the areas where it would have been nice to have just a bit more. I would have liked to know a little more about them. I liked the twist of Gi Tae knowing Chi Soo is his target, but not knowing (at first) that he's also a writer of on-line serials that he really likes. As far as a reason not to kill Chi Soo right away, I thought that was actually really clever and worked. From there it's clear they fall for each other, and that's why Gi Tae stays his hand further. Small detail, but I liked it.

Another thing I really appreciated is that the characters were "on equal footing," so to speak. There was no dominant partner, and they stayed away from the whole husband/wife, top/bottom stuff that I loath. Physically, they were a really good match for one another as well. Yeon Seung Ho may have a baby face, but he is actually really tall, but he was never seen as cute or childish, even before we knew who or what he really was. They made Gi Tae's character just as strong and resilient as Chi Soo's (also making him a hitman certainly helped in this category). Whenever the two male leads are on equal footing, I really, really appreciate that.

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Unrequited? More like Unrealistic.

Story
Unrequited love is nothing new in the BL genre. In point of fact, it shouldn’t even be called unrequited, as at some point it always ends up requited. Theory of Love falls into that exact category—unrealistically so. In any world adjacent to the real one, Third and Khai wouldn’t have ended up together. But since this a BL, of course they do, because the plot said they had to. If there were ever a series where we needed to use the word “gay” this would have been it. Why is it never brought up as a possibility that Khai wouldn’t be interested in Third because he’s not gay? That would have been the most obvious reason. “Not wanting to ruin their friendship” would have only worked as the main reason if Khai were a gay man, dating multiple guys at once. In fact, that would have made the entire story work a lot better. But no, we barely touch upon the idea of sexual preference here. As in most BLs, there was some desperate need to make it look like two straight boys fell in love, and it came at the expense of the story.

Another failing of the story: Why on earth was Third in love with Khai to begin with? Khai was not a good friend, or even a good person. Sure, he’s good looking, and sometimes they had a laugh, but that was it. The show leaned way to hard into the whole “the heart wants what it wants,” aspect. I was told that Third was in love with Khai, but never shown why throughout their relationship or interactions. Without really understanding why Third was so head over heels, it made it very hard to get invested in his plight.

On the plus side, tone-wise, I thought the show often balanced drama and light-hearted well. Not all the time, mind you. Third’s habit of crying in the shower while fully clothed and pouring water bottles on himself was silly. It could have worked, had he cried during a regular shower once or twice. Not everything needs a comedic undertone—these moments certainly didn’t.
I actually liked the voiceovers, from both Third and Khai’s perspectives. I thought the perspective shift (from Third to Khai) about half-way through would weaken the show, but it actually held up fairly well. There were a few really cringe-worthy scenes, Khai’s first and final confession being good examples. Just way too many people present and involved in those scenes. Some scenes were cut/edited weird, like the bedroom scene, where Khai said sleeping over was different now, then the opening credits played, and then after that suddenly they were on the train. Where was the rest of the scene?

As stated in the opening paragraph, I think the biggest strike against the story is Khai falling in love with Third. He was never presented as gay, or even bisexual, so the only reason I can think of for his sudden love is “the script said so.” That isn’t good story writing. The story would have been better served by either Khai not being presented as straight to begin with, or the two of them not getting together in the end. But then I guess we’d stray into realism and away from BL.

*Side note: The product placements were egregious.

Acting/Characterization
Acting was probably the strongest aspect Theory of Love. I thought the group of four male friends felt very real, and the cast in general was well-rounded. But this, again, is brought down by the characterization of the characters.

Third: No question about it, Gun killed this role. I didn’t particularly like Third, but I found him to be a real character, and that’s more important to me. A lot of BL actors come across extremely awkward or even laughable when attempting to cry and do sad scenes—Gun is the king of crying. Nothing seemed staged in those scenes, though there might have been one too many of them. Though he’s a really small guy, his size never affected his character. He wasn’t weak or wimpy, or cute. He went from angsty and depressed to super jaded. I liked his introspective side. That’s different for a BL character. Again, I did not understand why he was in love with someone who treated him so poorly, but since he was so obsessed in the beginning, it made it hard to believe he’d make Khai jump through so many hoops at the end. Some, sure, but Khai having to prove his love really dragged on.

Khai: Off held his own here. Prior, I’d only seen him in comedic roles, but when it was Khai’s turn to be sad and pine, he pulled it off. Again, I didn’t like Khai as a character—he was a thoughtless friend and a womanizer—but for the most part, I believed him. He was a real character. A lot of people probably know or have encountered a Khai. And I did like when he made an effort to be a better friend, but the biggest problem is that I don’t buy, for one second, that Khai would fall in love with Third. It happened for no reason. He went from only being into girls (very into girls) to suddenly being madly in love with Third for no reason other than he found out about Third’s feeling. That doesn’t happen, and I don’t understand why they didn’t just make Khai gay or bi to being with. The story would have been better for it.

Two: I’ve liked White since I saw him in Love Sick, and it was nice to see him in a more mature role. While I liked his relationship with Un, it wasn’t explored enough to be really satisfying. It was so brief that some parts had me scratching my head. I couldn’t figure out how Un had known to go to the beach that one night, or why he’d decided to stay without actually knowing if Two was into him or not. They just didn’t cover any of that. Two being torn between a girl and a boy would have worked better had they actually shown us some sort of struggle with his sexuality, but sexuality is again a non-existent non-issue. The twist of Un having actually been into Two the whole time and not Third was neat, though I didn’t think it needed to be back-dated to freshman orientation. Unfortunately, White got stuck with that horrible, horrible colorism line, directed at Un, who is beautiful. That line was so bad and so uncalled for, I had to pause and seriously consider whether I wanted to keep watching or not. Clearly, this demonstrates a much deeper industry problem, where fair=attractive and desired, and anything else is ridiculed. I can't imagine anyone thinking that it's okay to include a line like that without calling out the character who said it as awful.

Bone: Sorry to say, but I didn’t watch the hetero storyline. That’s not what I watch BLs for. In what I did watch of Bone, I liked him. I’ve seen Mike in other series, and he always seems to play the same buddy character. Not much innovation here, but he was fine.

Female Characters: Oh dear. From crazy women to women as two-dimensional plot devices meant to bring male couples together, Theory of Love is not good at female representation. The worst I’ve seen, I’d say.

Intimacy/Heat Level
Quite low. Not all series need to be risqué, but after all the angst and pining, Theory of Love would have benefited greatly from some heat and passion at the end, or at least a bit of intimacy or romance. Off & Gun complement one another pretty well, in a physical sense. What kisses were shown were really good—they clearly had no qualms about this, so it was a shame they didn’t have more couple scenes. The most passionate kiss ended up being the one in the bathroom, in which Third didn’t participate, so that was weird.

The dock scene between Un and Two sorely needed a kiss—impossible to think they wouldn’t have kissed there, but just hugged awkwardly. There was a later scene where Two is dodging Un’s attempt to kiss him, after they are a couple. Why? At least it came across more as playful then as gay panic—something BLs really like, though I can’t imagine why.

All in all, too tame in this department for such a heavy-handed drama.

Music
I don’t care about this music. As long as it’s not disruptive, I don't even notice it. No affect on overall score for me.

Re-watch Value
I don’t understand why this is one of the criteria. Some people don’t re-watch series even if they liked them, so I don’t like rating anything based on this. No affect on overall score for me.

Summary
In summation, the need to have the majority of BLs show two “straight” boys falling in love really brought this series down. While the show runners could have made a statement about unrequited love for a straight guy, and learning to move on and stand up for yourself, they instead strayed into the realm of unrealistic fangirl fantasy. It’s too bad, because some excellent acting talents were wasted here.

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