The poor writing and direction that has been a staple of most 2022 GMMTV BLs could not even spare First and Khaotung. After looking over the promising synopsis and cast, I am disappointed we ended up with a very shallow mystery political plotline, and a charming but cliched high school romance.

I think the cast is great. The acting was the only thing that made this script seem slightly believable. Khaotung being the standout actor, and Neo exceeding my expectations. Ayan is my favorite character. He is clever but kind-hearted, and I loved seeing Khao’s full range of acting.
Kan’s character turned out to be far more multifaceted than he seemed. Neo made the most of subtle facial expressions and movements. You could always tell what was on Kan’s mind without it being explicitly said.
First is a phenomenal actor, but Akk’s character writing was not strong enough. He is cliched, stubborn and dense. Despite this, First did the best he could, and you can’t help but root for Akk.

The romance was the main draw that kept me watching this series, though it fizzled out into something standard. First and Khao had great banter and chemistry. Thua and Kan also had quite the interesting relationship, and one of my favorite kiss scenes of all time.
Unfortunately by the end both couples degenerated into common tropes and cliched roles. Though I was disappointed, nothing was exceptionally bad (let’s ignore the accidental kiss), and I still found their relationships endearing.

One of the things I noticed first was that this “strictly governed leading all-boys school” didn’t seem very strict at all. The only “strictness” that was emphasized in the story was dress code and no phones in class. These are very common school rules. The only time the rules started to seem extreme was towards the very end when free speech and protesting started to get limited. I also thought that the World Remembers group would be a bit more of a threat than three guys protesting the dress code.
A few characters mentioned that Suppalo had a point system. I think if they should have made something like a highly competitive point system the main tension of the story. Then the other rules could build on top of that tension, and the dissension among the students would be far more believable.

Now the so-called “mystery.” Throughout the story you are warned about the dangers of the Suppalo curse, but it’s never really specified what the Suppalo curse will do aside from some vague harm. The stakes are never established so the viewer is never fully invested in the mystery.
I think they should have kept Ayan’s motives secret for longer, or involved Dika a little later in the storyline. This would have improved the mystery aspect, and help pacing feel less dragged out towards the end. Instead the writers opted for poorly set up plot twists to make the “mystery” feel exciting.

Now for the plot twists. Spoilers ahead. Throughout the show I was always underwhelmed by Thua’s character. He is soft spoken and a little boring, but I could still see his appeal. Based on how Thua had acted for the majority of the show, I thought Thua is a smart character who would rather directly confront rather than cook up a two-faced plot. I don’t think the plot twist was worth going against his established character. But seeing as the conflict was quickly resolved and thrown under the rug, I suppose it didn’t matter much either way.
Thua’s plot twist I could almost see coming, but when Chadok’s reveal happened I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Did they really expect us to believe that the most unlikable character, the person who pushed Akk to threats and harassment, was actually a big romantic? The writers attempted to redeem the last person they could shift the blame on. The viewers are left with a mystery that has no culprit, and only the “rules” to blame.

The final thing that caught my attention was the poor sound mixing, music, and editing. There is a lot of background fuzz during dialogue. The soundtrack is okay, but highly repetitive. I noticed a lot of weird cuts and timing. Some notably being the awkward fade transitions and cuts during the middle of kiss scenes. While these things are not a deal breaker in my book, a lack of refinement in these details further cheapened an already cheap plotline.

As long as you don’t come for an engaging plot, enjoy the flirty rebel x straight-laced student romance. Relish in the perfection that is Kan and Thua’s kiss scene, and reminisce over Ayan and Akk’s dreamy kiss in the dorm that was too good to be true…

Though this series has it's faults I can't help but remember the good. So if you like anyone in the cast, this isn’t going to be a particularly bad watch, but don’t get your hopes up for anything revolutionary.