Our Skyy 2: The Eclipse (2023)

What the hell happened to Aye?

I wanna start this review by saying that I enjoyed The Eclipse. The writing wasn't great (especially nearing the end), but I absolutely fell in love with the characters of Akk and Aye. First and Khaotung are - in my opinion - some of GMMTV's best actors. They have fantastic chemistry and I really enjoyed the progression of their love story. Which is why The Eclipse is very high on the list of my favorite BLs, despite the issues in writing. So I was eagerly awaiting the release of Our Skyy 2, just to see Akk and Aye back together. And what we got was... well... Not really the same Aye that I came to love in The Eclipse??

I'm still slightly confused as to what went wrong exactly. It feels like these two episodes were written by someone who thought Akk and Aye were cute together, but didn't understand the character of Aye at all. It feels like they watched The Eclipse and thought 'Well, Aye is a bit of a troublemaker who follows his own rules instead of what others tell him to do, so clearly that makes him a self-centered idiot!' And that was obviously not the point of his character at all! In Our Skyy 2, Ayan is portrayed as someone who only thinks about himself and doesn't really consider anyone else's feelings. So you're trying to tell me that Ayan, the guy who continuously made sure Akk was voicing his feelings and was there to listen to him all the time, the guy who wanted to meet Thua's mom, just so he could make sure Thua told her about his issues with his stepfather, the guy who was so concerned about other people not being able to be themselves and voice their opinions at their school... You're telling me that this Ayan is now supposed to be self-centered??? Just... how???

A glaring issue in that regard is obviously Aye pretending to have forgotten about Akk's birthday. I'm okay with the general idea of Aye planning to surprise Akk, and thus pretending not to remember his birthday. BUT I'm not okay with him pushing through with this plan, despite seeing that Akk is clearly feeling very sad and hurt about this. I feel like the Aye we got to know in The Eclipse would've given up on his surprise plan as soon as he saw that Akk was sincerely hurt. He wouldn't have kept going for weeks, knowing that Akk was suffering. So for me, that just completely ruined part of his character. The surprise idea is cute, but who would insist on doing it even after seeing their loved one suffer? It made no sense to me and felt like such a silly conflict. Also, the fact that Akk's friends supposedly knew about the plan all along was very stupid in my opinion. If my friend told me he was sad because his boyfriend was being self-centered to a point where he doesn't even remember that my birthday is coming up, and I was aware of the fact that his boyfriend was just planning on surprising him, I would go to said boyfriend and be like "Maybe reconsider your plan. Clearly, you're just upsetting him with this idea." But hey, maybe that's just me and most other people prioritise a surprise over someone's happiness. Aye could've still surprised Akk with the song, even if he hadn't pretended to have forgotten his birthday entirely.

But that's not even the worst part in my opinion. The worst part - by far - was their scene by the water, after playing the guitar. Akk was trying to tell Aye that he was feeling unhappy and unheard, and what does Aye do? He shuts him up by basically saying "Shhh, you know I can't resist you when you're angry" and the kisses him. Why oh why???? The Aye I know and love wouldn't just shut his boyfriend up! He would encourage him to talk about his feelings, like he always has done in The Eclipse. I already dislike the "You're cute when you're mad" trope in general, but particularly with Aye it just felt so wrong, going against the core of his character, which was partially wanting other people to stick up for themselves. Akk previously had such a hard time, voicing his feelings. Aye always encouraged him to do so. And you're telling me that now, as Akk is finally able to talk about his emotions, Aye is just going to shut him up?? Great.

Those are the main issues of these two episodes in my opinion. There were other issues too, such as Kan and Thua supposedly also having a conflict, but that never actually being shown in any way. But that was minute in comparison to the character annihilation of Ayan.

All that being said, I was still able to somewhat enjoy the episodes, because First and Khao still have amazing chemistry and the acting is still great. This is why the rating is still relatively high, despite my issues. So if you're a fan of those two, I'd still recommend watching. But I recommend you just watch it as a stand-alone piece, and not a continuation of The Eclipse. Maybe this is a ViceVersa cross-over, and we're in a different universe, where Ayan is a prick. Who knows, judging by how they're gonna turn My School President into a role-reversal thing, they don't shy away from doing very odd things in Our Skyy 2.

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