Uea is a young graphic designer working in an agency and has a good set of friends. The only person he can't get along with is Kings notorious flirt. King likes to flirt playfully with Uea, but his advances always get ignored. Years ago Uea move away from home, given that not only his mother is homophobic but constantly keeps asking for money. On a recent company outing Uea and King end up spending a night together of passionate sex after getting drunk (since Uea had recently broken up with his boyfriend). The next day they discuss and Uea mentions he doesn't want a relationship but somehow they together end up dicing to be friends with benefits with no one in office should know and they have other such rules. Things are going ok, but slowly we unravel how Uea has some trauma issues. He was sexually abused by his step father. Later a new boss in the office tries to rape him. Various incidents like this keep bringing Uea down and it's only King he can rely on. After the attempted are incident, Uea leaves work, but King complains to HR and gets thats sorted and Uea is back at work. The duo now decide to give their relationship a serious test and see if they can date and become boyfriends, which as expected, they eventually become.
As the name suggests, there are attempts to show some raunchy, sexy filled multiple encounters between our lead couple, even though the circumstances under which they do it the first time is very dubious and questionable. But somehow, more than turning me on, I found some of those campy and weirdly funny, especially in one of the scenes when King makes Uea dress up like a cat. I was like wtf! The only good thing about that is they both have good bodies and we get to see some eye candy. King is a very attractive man, but he has no personality. It's all one-dimensional. And what can I say about Uea. His overdone make up and lipstick and frankly just an annoying demeanor kept me away from ever liking or connecting with his character, which is a shame, because as audience we are supposed to empathize with his past and present. But somehow , just didn't work for me. The show tackles triggering topics like parental abuse, child molestation, and workplace harassment, none of which are handled sensitively. At least three supporting characters sexually assault Uea, like a parade of interchangeable predators. Bed Friend feels sleazy and exploitative, using provocative plots to scandalize the viewers. The show could hav been empowering and a powerful drama with positive messages around many things. Instead almost nothing about the show is memorable, besides its way too smartly dressed protagonists. There is literally nothing when it comes to a storyline. It's just a. Confused show trying to mix saucy raunchy one night stands with trauma after trauma, without handling it properly. I would give this one a pass. (4/10)
Comments
James did too well playing Uea. All those tiny details in the attitude indicating that this person has been abused - the struggle between the desire to be loved and the need to be in control of the relationship, trying to keep the shadows of the past away from his daily life, and yet still being a shit magnet. It is a thing - one abuser making a mark on the victim so the other abusers can find him more easily. We've been discussing this strange phenomenon in the support group for years and still have no idea whether it is a hologram on the forehead, a specific smell or anything else pointing to the direction of the victim, but somehow the same kind of abusers seem to find them too easily to be considered accidental or sheer dumb unluck. FINALLY a story that has this included... and completely lost in the tangle of bedroom scenes. Teen Uea sleeping with the knife under his pillow was the most painful scene, it should have been followed by some time to think and digest it, but the next events followed too fast and another good opportunity was lost.
NetJames are growing more and more comfortable with each other and luckily it has been noticed by the people who can include them in the series, but they both have potential for more challenging stuff than the Emmanuelle-esque bedroom choreography. They've already proven they CAN do it, let's level up.
Which brings me to King's bedroom. Thank you, interior designers, for keeping my brain occupied with the thoughts about the paintings in his whole apartment, and I still haven't figured out WHY this character has such a collection of wall art. OK, he's obviously studied art since he's working in graphic design company, but why THESE pieces - ? Rubens' "David in the Lions' Den" and a gray horse in the living room. David's "The Coronation of Napoleon" in the bedroom, above the bed. OK, I get it, such huge empty wall makes an art aficionado toy with ideas of placing something extra large over there - but why that particular painting? OK, I don't need to understand the choice, but put it nicely in the middle then, chrissake! Why do you have to mock my OCD and have it too far on the left?! (That was me watching the first episode, through the fingers and cringing.) In the next episode the painting had mysteriously heard my lamenting, adjusted itself and was hanging in the middle of the wall like it's supposed to... only to be too far on the left again in the next scene in the same bedroom. Khm, guys - I don't want to disturb you at all, but are you aware that your painting is living its own life - ? And what's the deal with the painting by the entrance of the living room? Every other piece is nicely framed, but that one is just a printout glued onto the wall.
Btw, this series is going to have a spin-off, with Jade and the new intern being the main characters.
Back to some of the points u have mentioned: it still amazes me how much attention to detail to give to aesthetics of some of these shows including the decor, the paintings etc. I have never EVER noticed any such thing and I don't think I ever will. I am sure of the Akers knew that they had a huge fan is you who pays attention to details on every such thing, I am sure you will be in their honorary fan club.
And that red lipstick of Uea bothered me as well. Totally wrong tone :D At least they didn't use the same shiny wet look pink on all the cast, like in "Fahlanruk". Hope they do better in the sequel.
(taking full responsibility for the mental damage) Chocolate - ? Valerian infusion - ? A few cats - ?
Uea was intriguing yto me, in the sense I always pictured him as a girl. Of course that lipstick helped lol. But his clothes, his purse, the way he moves and behaves. Just like a wannabe queen in a male body. I found it captivating.
The way "everybody wants to rape Uea" seemed too much at first, but it made me question if it could actually be a thing with victims luring more horrible persons. And thank you Miisu for kindda answering that question. After all we gays have our gaydar, so why not for abusers/victims.
Now those steamy scenes. I felt the same way Golu, they are steamy in the BL world maybe, meaning amusing and cute for us XD. Or maybe that's just me, because my fuck friends never were that complicated lmao.
Indeed being manipulated or abused makes the victim stand out in the crowd somehow and exactly the same kind of abusers seem to find them. I've been a member of a support group for narc survivors for 5 years (today is the World Narcissistic Abuse Awareness Day, btw) and the topic surfaces pretty often, especially when newcomers start wondering if they themselves do something to attract the narcs. The feedback's always massive and there are very few members who have had to deal with only one narc - about 85-90% have "their" narcs in plural. It even seems that the abusers leave notes and tips for the next of their kind, not just the hologram or... I don't know, a smoke signal. I'm thankful that there's finally a series considering that strange phenomenon, I only wish it had been highlighted better. However I might have squealed "yes!" when King listened to Uea's story about his stepfather, thanked Uea for trusting him that much and asked his permission to do something about it. Yes, King the Spellbreaker!
King had... hair? Oh. I was so focused on his lashes and jawline (and his left earring :D) that I had to go back to watch my favorite part (the temple scenes in E8) to actually look at his hair :D Nice classic style, indeed.
wrt "wanna be queen" ; I think he was already a big queen. it just that Asia doesn't really differentiate or label them as the west does. Funny about hair. I have almost lost all my hair, so I know exactly what you mean
What you wrote Miisu is scary, about victims having "their" abusers. Certainly not as much as you but I could witness up close my best friend falling in the hold of one of those narcisstic perverts and the damage it does. I'll just pray she'll never have a second one.
Golu you make me wonder how Uea is considered in Asia. Fascinating.
Don't be jealous but in a few month I'll wave my hand in my hair saying "L'Oreal, because I'm worth it" XD
Some viewers have made sort of spoilers on Youtube, based on the book and there it seems Uea is sort of acquiescent and yielding at home, loves his sister very dearly and takes his mother's shit only because he doesn't want to cause trouble for his sister. "I'm just a wallet for her ( = the mother)," he sighs. Luckily more towards the ending he declares that from now on he'll send the tuition money straight to his sister and that's it. Dammit, it seems so Asian, worshiping the parents, even those who are more like psychopaths, manipulators and otherwise toxic. Maybe there are so many broken young people just like Uea, acting out of character and eating antidepressants for dinner, that it's considered... common. Or even normal.
@Sailor Maan - Sorry to hear about your friend being caught by a narc. It is scary and contrary to popular belief, in the victim stage the victim cannot do anything since they are probably gaslighted to doubting everything they feel or see. However once they get the knowledge about narcs and their manipulation tools, they become inbetweens and the more they know the closer they get to the survivor stage. But it's almost impossible to get out of the victim stage without outside help. Someone has to say that this person is toxic - and prove it. Human beings are like glass objects that have two sides - like windows. While it's possible to see a splodge of guano from the inside, it's not gonna come off when washed from the inside. You can scrub all you like, the shit remains where it is. It needs someone from the outside to notice and take action. Personal boundaries keep the narcs away and knowledge helps to recognize the red flags pretty early on - if your friend has those, she's armed and safe :)
Speaking of hair, I probably have more than you two together ( = mid-back length) :D And Sailor Maan I can show you exactly which ones turned gray within the last 3 weeks :D Gosh, don't disappear like that again, asking nicely and bla-bla-bla :D