If there is one thing that made me really love this series, it was the critical approach to the BL industry and toxic fans. I never fully understood the whole idea of (especially) BL actors not dating or at least not being allowed to talk about it. A lot of them are in either their late teens or their twenties, the time when most people get to date and explore their options. But they can’t, because some fans cannot differentiate between fiction and reality, between characters and actors. The amount of hate an actor’s partner would get… I feel bad for them just thinking about it.

And that is something that was really shown well, especially towards the end of the series. We got to see so many different comments from many different fans. The sad part? Many of them are pretty similar to the comments we get to see online in reality.

The series didn’t shy away from showing some of the bad sides of the behind the scenes either. From the homophobic remarks in castings, to constant pressure for more NC scenes (even if they don’t fit the story), the romanticization of non-consent… There was a lot of digs to what we see in many other BLs.

Now, for the story. I really like how it was paced, I think it went great with the overall plot and everything that they included in the story. I am not a big fan of the whole childhood friends and how that was played into the story. I really disliked the secrets that were related to that.

Nubsib & Gene: Gene is so relatable, awkward, and adorable. But he is also someone who speaks up when is uncomfortable or when he needs to do things he doesn’t like. Does he still do them? Usually yes, because he is a people pleaser, but he makes it clear he doesn’t like it. Nubsib seems to be a bit more relaxed, but also very mature at the same time. I really liked how they never pressured one another to come out or do things that they were not okay with. They had some rough patches in their relationship, some of which could have been resolved quicker with some good communication. Both Kao and Up did an excellent job portraying the two characters, their emotions and the love the two had for one another. I really like how Nubsib seemed to light up whenever he got to talk to Gene. I think that was a really nice and well thought detail.

Aoey: He’s a character you want to hate, but at the same time, you find it hard to do so. He made a lot of poor choices and did a lot of bad things, yet he was hurting too. A lot. I don’t want to excuse his behavior nor his actions, but I can understand why he did things the way he did. Bruce did amazingly. Some of the scenes were so difficult to watch, yet he really shined in them.

I really liked Hin, Tum and Tiffy as well. They were really fun characters to have around, and while I wasn’t as interested in their stories as I was in the story of Nubsib and Gene, I still liked them. Hin and Tum really showed themselves as great friends to the two main characters, even if they were both kind of employed by them, as a manager and as an editor.

I think there are certain things that were left kind of open. I guess one could say that we saw how Aoey ended, but at the same time, I feel like that is not enough of a conclusion. I also think it would be nice to see how the public reacted to how it all ended. Another thing that I found a bit annoying was the amount of flashbacks to the events that happened earlier in the series. There were quite a few of them in the last few parts of the series.