I loathed this series after the first episode. I gave is a 2 and dropped it and only reluctantly came back after friends insisted it got better. It did.

My objection was the totally absurd treatment of drunkenness, and the fuzzy morality, with the writers trying to have it both ways. You can't get so drunk that you think a person is someone else. Maybe for a few moments, but certainly not after sleeping if off for several hours, and Vee having three beers in 2 hours is not sufficient to lower his inhibitions enough to do something awful, so that shot of his garbage can with empty beers in it didn't fly. So you have two choices: Either Mark knows it's Vee and wants to get laid to help him get over his pain, or Vee is a repugnant rapist and the whole series is appalling. Neither option works, so I gave up in disgust with the terrible writing.

So why do I give it a 9.5, you ask?

The thing is, because this is a remake, the production was stuck with the outline of the poor writing of the original. And I can't give it a 10, because the plot is so unoriginal and we've seen it so, so many times. But the execution of this story is so good in every way, and so much depth an nuance given to the story and characters, it's like having a piece of chocolate cake. You've had many, I'm sure. Some are dry, some are factory produced, some pretty good - but then you have a slice that is so perfectly made that you can never enjoy any other chocolate cake again.

That's sort of how this series is. It really, really needs to be the last story with this tired plot - it will never be done better than this, it's so overused that I, and probably many or most of you, groan when a preview shows anyone wearing a blue engineering shirt.

While this follows an established formula, it isn't just the usual shallow boy-meets-boy, boy-hates-boy, boy-gets with-boy, boy leaves boy for girlfriend, boy-hates-boy, boy-and-boy-live-happily-ever-after story.

First, Mark and Vee aren't 2D uke and seme characters. Mark (the uke) knows who he is, is totally comfortable with it, he's a jock with a ripped body, and he doesn't let himself be pushed around. Vee (the seme) is confused and indecisive, can't bear to be the bad guy to the point that his desire not to hurt anyone hurts everyone, and he's never in control of the situation, and seems to fail at everything.

Other than the first episode, the writing is complex and sensitive, never stuffs characters into the narrow boxes of stock archetypes. Mark isn't a useless uke, Vee isn't a brooding prince who will swoop in to take care of him, Vee's girfiend isn't evil or scheming, she's just weak, damaged, and needs the validation of a man desiring her, Nuea isn't a terrible person nor is he an alternate prince, he's just a smitten horny guy who crosses the line a little, and even Mark's father's true motivation is Mark's happiness despite his dickishness. His emoji in the last scene is hillarious.

The story contains one of the classic misunderstandings wherein one boy shows up somewhere just at the right time to see something he can misinterpret and, implausibly, no communication occurs to clear it up. But in this case the plot gives a sequence of events that leads to that moment that is logically constructed, and the timing is not at all coincidental, and while Mark misunderstands, Vee is not innocent - he let himself be put in a situation that he shouldn't have, and given their past, Mark's reaction and subsequent behavior is totally reasonable and relatable.

The dialog and writing are excellent, creative despite the unoriginal story, quirky, and provides us with suprises and unexpected resolutions, like the final family confrontation, where Vee's father is a true boss. The finale is lovely and romantic, and gives us a typical fairy-tale BL ending - and then there's the post-credit scene, for which you may need medication, possibly counseling. The typical uke-finding-a-public-sniff-kiss-to-the-cheek appalling routine starts, then heads in a direction so, so, SO far from where you'd expect that it manages to be hot, funny, and a little frightening all at once (War could [and should] play a truly terrifying villain).

The cinematography, all the editing, the music, is all thoughtful, beautifully excecuted, and all serve the story.

But what really seals the award for Best Execution of a Stale, Tired BL Plot is the acting. War (Mark) has always been good, but here he's SO good that he can make you feel eight different things with one look. Yin (Vee) was frankly a bit weak in the original series, at least compared to War, but here he's improved so much that he's able to hold his own. Vee's impulsive idiocy is funny, relatable, and believable.

If this had a better first episode, perhaps with a devastated Mark just callously grabbing Vee as the nearest male body to fill his... needs, this could have been a 10. But it's still one of the best BLs of all time and I don't hesitate to recommend it.