BL Reviews

Love in the Air : A Masterclass in Kissing – A Review

/ Lady Divine / 5 Comments

Do you ever wish shows had more kissing?

Like… a lot more?

Like, the serious business of kissing that requires exploration of all the variations and placements on the body?

I wish to be burdened with such struggles

Softcore kissing?

Hardcore kissing?

Open mouth, full tongue, no hesitation kissing?

Just… a lot a lot of kissing?

gif from shippingcontacts

I mean… of course you do, right?

All those kisses aren’t even spoilers, really. All that was just the first episode!

It was so spicy!

Love in the Air hooked me from the very beginning. I was COMPELLED by the flirty self-assurance of ponytail boy’s moves on an adorably dim rich boy and their undeniable chemistry.

And… who is this new ponytail boy?

gifs from prapais

I mean… hellooooooo, Boss.

I’d never seen this actor or his big eyed costar before. But they looked great together and I was eager to see more.

I am addicted to their faces

I’d just let my subscription to IQIYI lapse and was gonna hold out until Season 2 of KinnPorsche but apparently no… the “Son of Vegas” won me over.

Snaps to whomever is selecting their BL dramas on that app, too, cause they sure as hell know how to keep their tender hooks in us. Two billion heterosexual shows that I’ll never watch but I forked out the 10-ish bucks a month for the VIP IQIYI subscription again solely to watch one show about rich gay kids.

My socials were sprinkled with the show for the first ep… and there was quite a buzz about it.

gifs from liyazaki

But it blew up by episode 4. Like a nuclear bomb.

Whatever else had been distracting us was quickly pushed aside as Love in the Air became the main course for the next few months. The BL fandom was on board to witness the insane chemistry of two actors that have no problem convincing us they are head over heels in love and can’t keep their hands to themselves.

But of course, we didn’t just get one couple.

Love in the Air said let’s double that and give our audience two high-intensity couples!

Boss & Noeul playing Payu & Rain – Peat & Fort playing Sky & Prapai

If you enjoy watching people staring at each other lovingly, making out excessively, and then pouncing on each other like horny but respectful wild animals – then this is your show. It earned its NC-17 rating.

Plot?

It has one. I’m pretty sure.

I dunno, I was hella distracted by all the tender touching and audible moaning.

Listen, there’s motorcycle races and architecture classes and a few scenes of the older guys at work… but really it’s just a romance, so the majority of the show is laser focused on watching the couples get together.

It’s all about the banter, the wooing, the seducing, the push and pull, the playful courtships, the insecurities, the eager hands, and the thrilling excitement of physical attraction and first loves.

Rating: 10/10. A Masterclass on Kissing.

I wouldn’t dig too deeply into it if you haven’t seen it yet.

I mean, I’m not sure it would matter… I’ve always been a fan of spoilers, but I will admit it was fun to wait week to week to discover what new sexy shenanigans the boys would get up to in the next episode. If you want to be breathlessly surprised, just go watch it. Love in the Air is on more than one app and streaming sites, so you should have zero problem finding this gem of a bl.

But if you’ve already seen it and just want to reminiscence or enjoy getting spoilery details… feel free to join me on this stupidly unnecessary deep dive into a rather simple show (it is NOT going to be deep, I promise, but it will be media heavy).

Now into the Spoiler Zone… where I just share a crap ton of gifs, pics, memes, and more from the fandom while rambling about the episodes.

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KinnPorsche : The Horniest Show on Earth – A Review

/ Lady Divine / 30 Comments

***Please Note: This review is extremely media heavy (lots of gifs & images) so give your device a minute to load. P.S. All images can be enlarged if you click on them.

KinnPorsche is a Thai BL, aka a “boys love” series, created specifically with the fandom of BL in mind.

It’s a story about a mafia boss recruiting a new bodyguard and their subsequent romance as they navigate the criminal underworld, attempt to unravel the complicated web of their families, and find excuses to take each others clothes off.

The one scene we all remember from the original trailer

And like millions of others around the globe, I am currently obsessed with it.

Listen, I don’t know how to phrase this accurately – but this show gave me everything I wanted. As a fan of dramas. As a gay lady. As a content creator and consumer. KinnPorsche said, “Here, have Everything.” Including things I didn’t even know I wanted (which I will explain later).

Is it for you? It might be.

This fanmade music video is better than any trailer for the show. Check it out to see if you want to check it out.

I have loved a lot of dumb shows in my lifetime, but rarely has a series actually loved the audience back as much as this show.

The fandom was feral while this was airing. The euphoric high of waiting week to week, sharing gifs, theorizing, gushing and groaning and getting goosebumps together going over the last episode as anticipation grew to a frantic frenzy for the next. Ya’ll. Seriously. Summer of 2022 was sizzling.

If you have not noticed the fandom freakout over this series – and also somehow managed to avoid major spoilers or couple moments or Youtube & TikTok videos, Tumblr posts, Twitter threads, and so on… then wow. Congratulations! You may yet enjoy a pure viewing experience of this masterpiece.

If you have noticed it all and thought… what in the world is all this horny mess and should I check this out? Then yes, you should also watch it and wait with impatience for all of the scenes you have already seen to unfold before your eyes.

(images from Tumblr @moerusai – one of the supreme leaders of the Kinnporsche empire / fandom)

If you are coming from watching Korean Dramas or perhaps never watched an Asian drama at all – there are a few things you should know.

Without spoilers – please keep these things in mind:

  • The plot is a minor inconvenience. By that I mean do not go into this show expecting a deep dive into machinations of the Thai mafia, serious character studies, profound explorations of morals or psychology or anything else that usually sneaks its way into mafia-centric media. Don’t get me wrong, there is mafia-ish stuff happening. But don’t dig too deep into it. If you aren’t coming into this show exclusively to have fun watching gorgeous men get together while wearing suits and wielding guns, then check your tickets cause you may have purchased them in error.
  • The Action Sequences remind me of action TV from America the 1980-1990s. Meaning, they are not the highly cut, crazy angle, so-fast-you-nearly-miss-it, typical American style action-sequencing of today’s shows. They’re more on level and in real time. Still impressive to the modern eye but don’t expect John Wick, ya dig? Oh, and occasionally there are “tango-action” sequences… where the characters literally roll onto each other or into each others arms or whatever… and yeah, it’s ridiculous but it’s also sexy and fun and reminds you this isn’t The Godfather, this is a gay romance.
  • The Genre Shifts Constantly but should not be too jarring to anyone familiar with Asian dramas, which frequently jump from comedy to melodrama to romance to action and back all in one episode. There will be hot sensual scenes followed by slapstick, cheeky comedy… and mafia shootouts followed by bodyguards sitting around gossiping… serious plot moments followed by drunken dancing at a bar. And that’s just the nature of the beast with this show.
  • Most importantly, you should know IT’S SUPER GAY and in no way ashamed of it or apologetic about it or even that concerned with your opinions of the subject. This is not a show about coming out, gay self acceptance, or homophobia. This show takes place in a strange alternate dimension where very few women have speaking roles and nearly every man is gay or bisexual. This is peak BL, people.

KinnPorsche has become a global phenomenon and I would recommend it to everyone just so you aren’t being left out. What do you have to lose? The two male leads are exceptionally attractive, have unbelievable chemistry together, and there are plenty of enjoyable “mafia” moments inbetween all kinds of goofy shenanigans and kissing. KinnPorsche is both PG and NC-17 and you will have fun bouncing between the two.

(images above from Tumblr @kinnporsche)

So go and download IQIYI (or find some alt links – keep reading this post *wink *wink) and watch the show if you haven’t.

KinnPorsche (Thai BL) – Overall Rating: 10/10. The Horniest Show on Earth, otherwise known as Whump and Rump in the Gay Mafia.

In the sections below, I will be rambling on these topics:

  • THE LORE & BACKSTORY (no spoilers – the backstory to this show is just as wild as the show itself – includes all trailers and promos)
  • THE GAY MAFIA ROMANCE SHOW TAKES OVER THE WORLD (lots of spoilers)
  • THE CHARACTERS (no deep dives here, folks, just a quick hello to our major players)
  • THE COUPLES: KINN / PORSCHE (spoiler city)
  • THE COUPLES: VEGAS / PETE (spoiler city)
  • THE WORLD TOUR (in which I lose my mind, collectively, with the fandom)

Want to know more?

A FANDOM LOVE STORY: Spoilers, Gossip, Trailers, Pics, Gifs, and More below…

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Review – Color Rush

/ Lady Divine / 2 Comments

In the world of this drama, some people are born color blind. It is inexplicable color blindness, having nothing to do with traditional color blindness that involves genetics and cells in the eye’s retina. These unique people are called Monos. They see only in shades of gray.

Monos can be triggered into seeing color, however, if they find a person known as a Probe. Also incredibly rare, these individuals can activate (for lack of a better word) the eyes of Monos. The Monos then experience a color rush – as their eyes change to see color. It’s an overwhelming experience, causing fainting and blackouts. The Monos only experience color in the presence of their paired Probe.

Needless to say, this change in world view is very disorienting and compelling to the Monos. The experience causes obsessive tendencies and can even result in violence. The Monos desire to be always in the presence of the Probe leads many to stalking, kidnapping, and assault. There have even been cases of Monos eating their Probe partners.

So when our cute young Mono unexpectedly discovers his cute young Probe, all he wants to do is run away before the madness takes him. And all his Probe wants to do is flirt and invade his personal space, red flags of warning be damned. He strings along his color-rushed Mono, dolling out small doses of overwhelming color in carefully crafted (and surprisingly thoughtful) experiences. He drapes himself around this fainting, confused cutie and drags him into closets to see rainbows. Even when it’s obvious the experience is having an unsettling effect on the Mono, our slinkly Probe keeps pushing him along. Cause if you can see the world in color… why would you ever go back? Isn’t it worth the gamble of madness? Isn’t it worth turning your life upside down for? Isn’t it… the perfect metaphor for discovering you’re gay?

To say the premise of this series about all the colors of the rainbow is dark is the understatement of the year. It’s deliciously dark. My only complaint about this show is that it didn’t lean in harder to its obvious tonal values. It wanted to be both dark while also cuter than a basket of kittens… which is impossible to pull off under this plot line. I mean, we are told the color rush experience triggers cannibalism in the first episode. You can’t toss out information like that and not have it color, so to speak, the budding relationship.

Honestly, the entire show was just middle of the road for me – the actors, the locations, the cinematography, the side story (which was non existent but could have been awesome), and the romance. Not bad but not good either. Just a solid “eh.” BUT – the plotline elevated this show into a higher status by being so intriguing that every episode felt exciting. The “what if…?” and the “oh god, is he…?” and the “OH MY GOD, IS THAT-?” that you’ll be asking yourself throughout the run time were massively engaging. Ultimately a bit of a let down, too, but enough to propel you forward at an enjoyable speed through this shows short run time.

I’ve got more to say – but it skirts into spoilers, so let’s just drop a quick rating before we get into more. Though it really only deserved a 6 or 7, I’m gonna drop it in the top tier cause I doubt I’ll ever stop thinking about the BL story that tempted me with flesh eating insanity.

Overall Rating: 8/10 – You’ll See Colors and Cannibals Everywhere.

Spoiler time…

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Review – Devil Judge

/ Lady Divine / 5 Comments

I loved this drama. It was a 10/10 for me. It had all the hallmarks of a good melodrama – plenty of angst and anguish. Child abuse, dark secrets, shadowed mansions, homoerotic antagonism, BDSM, murder, mayhem, and more. There’s plenty of twists and turns in this drama, keeping the excitement running full speed and the tension high. It’s over the top and a great escape from the norm when you want something different.

Overall, it’s a story about one man trying to determine what kind of person another man is. This evaluation is a difficult and ongoing process – because the man in question does not behave or react in typical ways.

He’s contradictory.

He’s secretive.

He’s extremely clever and ruthless.

He’s manipulative and brazen.

One minute he’s nurturing and the next minute he’s throwing punches.

Mercurial is an understatement.

Determining whether or not he is a “good” buy or a “bad” guy is the ultimate challenge – which is intriguing as both the men in question are judges. It is literally their job to figure people out.

It is also a nice metaphor for figuring out your sexuality when it doesn’t fit neatly into the standard package (the bisexuals in the audience will get this message right away) – there’s a lot of second guessing, a lot of flip flopping sides, a lot of confusion and emotions, and depending on your circumstances a lot of internal resistance, guilt, anger, and shame that you may have to process before you come to acceptance of your unique self.

What is good and bad, right and wrong? What are the rules and who made them? Justice is tricky shit, after all. About as tricky as realizing there is no “normal.”

There’s so much to talk about with this show that I had to narrow it down to keep this review from turning into a novel. But I think I can manage it… maybe. This review is going to be focus on 2 major plot points – the Justice, aka the politics of the drama – and the Queer-Coding, aka, the characters.

There’s gonna be spoilers mixed in with what follows… so go ahead and watch the show. Come back when you’re ready to discuss.

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Review – Where Your Eyes Linger

/ Lady Divine / 1 Comment

Where Your Eyes Linger is the first openly gay romance where the two lead characters fall in love. Can we call this a drama? It’s really not even as long as a traditional film, let alone in the league of sprawling K-dramas. It was released online, so technically it’s a web series, but whatever. We’ll take the 8 episodes (only 10 minutes long each) and be happy we got it – because when they start handing out appetizers surely it means they’ll be serving up a main course of gay loving soon!

The plot in a nutshell is basically this. There’s a rich boy who’s dad is some mega CEO tycoon but also clearly mafia. Rich boy has a best friend, who is also his guardian and protector, and adopted (I guess, we didn’t really get much of a backstory here, though honestly it would be cool to know – this mini short could easily turn into a full blown drama in the hands of gifted writers) boy who relies on the charity of the mafia family for survival. The boys live together and go to school together and work out together and fall in love together and that’s about it. Two very handsome young men pining over each other with increasing intensity. There isn’t much to the story beyond this, so I won’t really spoil the ending except to say neither of them die. That’s saying a lot, as the Kill Your Gays trope has been around for a long time and it’s often easier to have one character sobbing on a grave than deal with the backlash of angry homophobs upset that gay people might be happy.

The two leads have believable chemistry, which was a plus. The side characters are minor, to say the least, but we really weren’t given time for anything else. The whole show feels a lot like a play, set on a few key locations, generally no more than two or three people in the room at any time. It had just enough conflict to make it satisfying, just enough dialogue to set up the structure of the story, and heaping spoonfulls of very PG but also very joyously-overt gay flirting and repressed longing.

It was a short but sweet addition to Pride Month. Is it perfect? Far from it. Did it end up seeming more like porn for girls? Definitely, but I’m not in the mood to do a deep dive essay on the problematic nature of female objectification of gay men through boys love media right now. Was it a bit of a rip off of Tight Rope and about a dozen other Yakuza themed BL manga? Okay, yes, but let’s not split hairs in the genre. Did I kinda love this very short gay love story? Yeah… I kinda adored it. I was texting my best friend during the entire screening.  “Oh my god, the waitress lady just asked which of them is the top. Straight people are so freakin’ rude” and “Oh my god, they’re wrestling with enthusiasm, this is definitely code for sex” and “Oh my god, he’s washing his freaking hair. This is the most orgasmic sudsy nonsense I’ve ever seen, it’s gotta be code for a blowjob” and “Oh my god, now he’s begging him to snuggle in the bed, cause of course they share a bed cause how positively heterosexual of them, hahahahahaha” and “Oh my god, why is forbidden love so ridiculously addictive?” and “Oh my god, I think we might actually get a kiss in this show. Like, mouth to mouth!” and “OH MY GOD!!!!”

Anyways, it was cute and there’s no reason everyone can’t give up 80 minutes of their day to watch it.

Overall Rating: 8/10. A Rainbow Sprinkle Romance.

Now I get to go update my Gay K-Drama List!