O Eclipse (2022)

Another missable series from the GMMTV stable

How do half-baked screenplays even reach the production floor? With limited queer content (ones not behind a paywall) available for viewing I still shouldn't have to lower my expectations to enjoy a show. Massive gaps in the storytelling, extremely poor editing, unaddressed inappropriate relationship depictions and awful pacing. The music is sub-par as is the colour grading, cinematography. The last three episodes were cloying.
The few pluses to this car-crash of a show would be some of the actors who played the students and professors.
If you haven't watched this series yet, I would recommend giving it a miss.

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I might've experienced purgatory and its this show

When I was deciding whether to not I wanted to watch this show, I wish somebody had written this exact review to tell me these things before I hit play.

First of all, without spoilers, this show is basically school uniforms and no cell phone use = protests = depression and suicide. That is it. Do not look for any real emotional depth or any real discussions on mental health because this is not the show for it. 

The entire time you watch this it feels like a fever dream. I feel like I’m in the twilight zone. I felt like I was gaslighting myself the more I watched. It was exhausting.

They throw so much at you for the entirety of the show, which is really all just discombobulated bad script writing, that you think the storyline is very complex and its not. Its a school with a prestigious reputation getting backlash for two trivial things which causes people to rebel like they’re fighting for a real cause. It tells you that when you’re in the middle of these “controversial” and “harmful” living conditions you will be driven to killing yourself. 

Not to mention that the relationship between the two leads started out with a promising enemies to lovers arc, but ended up as a repetitive case of stalker syndrome where the two ended up in ridiculous confrontations until we’re suppose to believe that they have so much chemistry that they transcended the shackles of their hatred and oppression to end up as soulmates. Please spare me. It didn’t even start to feel authentic until they stopped pretending like they were on a metaphorical battlefield and admitted they’re better suited just dating. The second lead couple was by far the best thing about this show and had normal progression.

As for the actual protestors, if it was that serious they would have been suspended or even expelled from the beginning and half of the show wouldn’t have even happened. Another case of saying something will be done but it really just being empty threats.

Finally, the elephant in the room that is episode 11. I will say that I called the plot twist about half way through the show as they made it quite obvious. Many people thought it was out of character but that has become the normal for these kinds of things so it was quite predictable. I mean the rest of the show was unbelievable so why shouldn’t the villain be too? I will agree with him though on the reason why he did it. They were really going to let the whole situation go away even though the conversation was originally about accountability. There’s no justice in that. The lengths were extreme but the truth had to be known one away or another.

What I can’t wrap my head around is how he got exposed for being the villain and everybody was angry, but then they went right back to their normal relationships with him and it was like it never even happened???? Are we serious? That doesn’t even make sense!!! I guess the whole “I’m sacrificing myself for the greater good” rah rah shit actually worked.

Overall I’m so glad to finally be done with this dumpster fire of a show. No I didn’t watch the last episode because even that was too much more to bare. Let this be your deciding factor of whether or not you wanna experience this mess for yourself. (Ignore people comparing this show to Not Me because that’s just an atrocious comparison.)

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Prometeu nada, mas entregou tudo e mais um pouco

Não iniciei esse BL com muita empolgação... Os atores principais já eram conhecidos, o casal secundário também atuou junto em Fish upon the sky, e a novidade era ver Khaotung e First juntos, ambos vinham de outros ships, mas provaram que tem química até com uma porta hehehe.

Sobre o roteiro: me prendeu do início ao fim! Eu percebia a crítica ao sistema educacional (que parecia tão exagerada...), até que me toquei que o buraco era mais embaixo, e a crítica na verdade era ao governo como um todo, numa época em que a Tailândia estava passando por uma luta absurda para que os direitos LGBTQIAP+ fossem respeitados, não poderiam ser por acaso essas críticas, isso me agradou muito.
Outro ponto que me deixou bem encantada foi a construção dos dois casais. Ayan chegou com péssimas intenções, ele queria destruir a escola e vingar seu tio morto, baseado apenas em suas suposições, mas não foi possível não amar o jeito debochado e cpnfiante dele. Ao encontrar Akk, seu mundo entrou em parafuso, pois eles eram totalmente opostos, e Akk estava numa posição de superioridade como monitor. Foi aí que o diretor fez a mágica. Akk era um menino do interior, de uma família humilde, e tudo o que queria era deixar seus pais orgulhosos dele. Ao perceber os próprios sentimentos, ele se magoou consigo mesmo, pois imaginou ser o motivo da tristeza de seus pais, se aceitar foi a coisa mais difícil que ele já fez, o mundo inteiro dele entrou em parafuso, o olhar dele transmitia uma dor profunda por não ter ajuda, não poder pedir ajuda, e a única pessoa a quem ele poderia se voltar, era o rebelde que pretendia desencaminhá-lo, em quem ele não confiava. Ayan, apesar das motivações erradas para ir à escola, ele foi um gentlerman com Akk. Ele acolheu, ouviu, abraçou, não forçou, foi o apoio que Akk precisava. Ele também soube reconhecer seu erro quando houve o plow twist do professor, foi magnânimo.
O casal secundário também teve um lindo desenvolvimento. Thuapu entendia sua sexualidade, mas tinha medo da incompreensão do mundo, e preferia esconder seu amor por Khanlong para protegê-lo de tudo, do preconceito, da maldade dos outros, Khanlong por sua vez, também demorou a aceitar seus sentimentos, mas quando o fez foi da forma mais bela possível. A química entre esses casais foi surreal. Aliás, cada ator e atriz se encaixou tão bem no personagem, que a química entre todo o elenco foi perfeita, mas entre Ayan e Akk foi demais, eles não precisavam de palavras, as expressões deles, os olhares, era muito surreal de perfeito.

Também fui surpreendida por duas coisas: inicialmente pensei que a Professora Sani fosse uma vilã, e ela me surpreendeu da melhor maneira, mesmo sendo errado shipei ela com Wat hehehe. Também achei que Namo podia ser o vilão, e os vilões na verdade eram os mocinhos, fiquei passada. O outro plow twist foi o do relacionamento do Prof. Dika com o tio de Ayan, eu jamais desconfiaria disso, tendo em vista que ele corroborava com a história contada pela escola de que ele traiu a escola e foi para a concorrência. Os pais de Ayan e Akk merecem todo o amor do mundo.

A atuação pra mim foi uma das melhores que já vi em séries BL, a cinematografia, a fotografia eram surreais de lindas. A ost é encantadora, o a ambiente escolar, mas não o clichê de sempre, foi a cereja do bolo.

Com certeza verei essa série mais vezes, pra mim foi uma das melhores de 2022 e eu panfletarei ela até sempre.

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Comfort.

I love this. First and Khaotung are such an amazing pair and the whole Suppalo situation is really good. I love the OST too, it's so good and relaxing to hear. There's not much to say, I just really love this, and I love the way they wrote Akk's character so you can really feel like he's trying to find comfot and acceptance in his sexuality and the fact that Aye realizes it and doesn't rush things is just comforting to watch.

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It’s not perfect but

I gave it a 10. I support and want to see more plot-heavy BLs where the romance is not the main theme but rather an additional sub-plot. The Eclipse took definitely that turn even if the actual plot was chaotic, a little confusing and not tight enough.

Having said that, ironically, the main reason I gave it a 10 is bc of the romance. I loved the characters dynamic, the way they flirted with each other and their overall relationship development. This is the second BL that imo managed to portray a so called „tsundere“ character realistically. A lot of the time BLs tend to portray a dynamic where one boy relentlessly pursues another boy and the other boy usually reacts in an irritated, cold and annoyed manner which heavily implies romantic disinterest. In contrast, First portrayed Akk as flustered and defensive instead of annoyed and uncomfortable - huge props to him for that! That way it never felt like Ayan was harassing him. They became pretty quickly aware of their mutual attraction and they kept pushing and testing each other and it felt more like Ayan was playfully trying to gauge Akks comfort/discomfort level regarding his attraction.
The dynamic was great, the acting was great. I’m honestly surprised that GMM was sleeping on First for so long, he is one of their best actors. Khaotung too is surprisingly versatile.
Neo and Louise did pretty well too and I’m glad they allowed Neo to explore non-comedic roles.
Also, thank god none of the characters were BL-straight!

I have a lot of questions regarding the story though, too many really. I understand and like the idea they were promoting about equality and the criticism of overly stiff rules that are still very prevalent in a lot of collectivist cultures/societies, even if the way they did in the story is rather simplistic.
There were a couple of twists that seemed very strange to me. I thought maybe they needed backflashes to properly build-up and explain them. I didn’t quite understand what happened between Dika and Chadok. Did Chadok transfer Dika without his consent? What exactly prompted him to comment suicide? There seemed to be a couple of people suffering from depression or other mental conditions and I wish they showed the progress of these mental issues better. I also didn’t understand why it took everyone so long to deal with 3 students. I’m not knowledgeable in Thai legal and human rights so I’m not going to complain further. Overall I thought the build-up could’ve been done a lot better.
Maybe I’ll have a revelation while rewatching it a second or a third time, who knows. All around I really liked it and hope to see more of similar projects, hopefully with better/tighter written plot next time.

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DONT EXPECT.

Honestly, I would have enjoyed the show a little more if I could skip my expectations. Can I blame myself though ? A school mystery, a enemies-lovers plot, such good cast. The cast did their best to save the series, they did, wish the plot wasnt so rushed and wish it made a bit more sense.

I mean the solid story you keep waiting for, never happens. The climax is over all of a sudden, resulting into a hurried last episode which delivers a few good scenes just to save your day.

If the story had a few more elements, a good pace, a few character build ups here and there, I could happily decide on it as one of bests. Hope to see more of First-Khaotung. The pair blown me away for sure.

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The Eclipse is one step away from gratness... sadly

I have to say that after watching the first episode, I truly believed that gmmtv won't be able to give us proper bl series and that Bad Buddy was just a fata morgana in this age of drought. 

No grain of salt, The Eclipse has one of the worst first episodes I have ever seen. The narrative is all over the place (important; keep this in mind), the scenes happen so fast, the editing and music feel like a first grader was given access to a windows movie maker. 

BUT, try giving it a second chance.

The Eclipse tackles themes like mental health and actual (believable and realistic) homophobia within a rotten system. It carries heavy themes and portrays them in a believable and mature way. 

But the sad thing is... doesn't really do anything with it. 

In reality… the story is kinda messy. This drama is really strong and compelling (and arguably peaks) in the middle. It sets us up well... only for the plot to somehow get lost in the last few episodes. AND I AM SO MAD ABOUT THAT. This drama knows what it wants to do… but then doesn't do it.

The World Remembers Club is supposed to be fighting oppressive school rules but the main thing they seem to be concerned about are… uniforms? Not the teachers abusing their power? Or the homophobia and blackmailing constantly being thrown at them? 

This series takes it self so seriously. But then pretends that ACTUAL teachers believe in a ghost that punishes misbehaving students?

And it carries on like this throughout the rest of the series. Just… the narrative and tone is all over the place. WHY ARE WE FILMING A BL in the middle of Akk's life crisis?

Really I had to give up on the story near the end because it stopped making sense. That's the one huge step the drama had to make in order to be great, one of the best even. Because it could have easily been there, if it's story was executed better. 

Luckily, this series has brilliant characters.

Akk and Ayan stole my heart. Bad boy and Mr. Perfect with an actual depth given to them? Sign me the hell up. They have a chemistry that is easily a highlight of this series. The air legit sparkles between them.

Khao skyrocketed in my list of favorite actors, he knew exactly what type of character he was portraying and not once was his performance lackluster. His acting is overall the best in this series and I enjoyed every minute he was on screen. Not to say that Ayan is a masterly written character.  

First is also great (I just still can't get over his crying. It's just… not great man). He gave us an opposite of what he was playing in Not me, so versatility! Plus he is handsome as hell. 

Most of the side character's acting is great as well. Not perfect but still above average. Production is gmmtv standards (for the love of god fix your microphones already.)

So...  OVERALL, this series is good. It's unique, has great, dimensional and likable characters. Keeps you on your toes and doesn't bore you. But if you think you are going to find a perfect, deep and clever series, I fear you might be disappointed. 

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THIS WAS A GREAT SERIES

Everything about this series was pretty good, the plot, the acting, and also the music. The actors in this series were really good and played their characters well. HOPE TO SEE MORE OF FIRST AND KHAO IN THE THE FUTURE.
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