It’s New Year’s Eve (or Day)—pass the yaoi.
This was the year I joined My Drama List, among other things, which is bad mostly because it provides me with the stat of how much time I’ve actually spent watching B/GLs 49 days, 13 hours, and 7 minutes. Most of which was over the last year and a half. That’s a total of 1,770 episodes over 189 shows, 168 of which I have actually watched to completion. Much like the stats on Steam that tell me how many hours I’ve spent Skyrim, this is knowledge I feel like I’d be better off not having.
Looking at this list now, I’ve actually seen fewer shows from 2024 than from 2023, although part of that is shows that are still airing and shows that started in 2023 but finished in 2024. As it is now the last day of the year, I can no longer put off my year-end review, so I shall start with:
Worst Shows of the Year
Twins: This show, which finished up early this year, asks the question, what if we did a very similar basic plot to Not Me aka twin goes undercover as his brother to figure out who attacked him only instead of being about political corruption and activism, it’s about sports? I spent so long watching this show waiting for literally anything to happen and it never did. Also no one except the romantic lead ever found out about the twin swap I don’t think???? Baffling show.
Jack & Joker: I’ve already spent enough time talking about what a disappointment this was, so I’m not going to rehash it now, but god it troubles me.
Two Worlds: The most “girl, the cartel???” show I’ve ever seen including the show that coined that phrase. A huge part of the issue is that Nat, bless his heart, is a very weak actor, and since the entire weight of the plot rests on his shoulders, it’s a bad fit.
Sunset x Vibes: MosBank are 0 for 2 for me now. I didn’t mind the first episode, but as it went on, the lack of any sort of actual end destination for the show became apparent, as did Bank’s inability to perform more than one emotion consistently. Starhunter’s abysmal track record continues.
Last Twilight: I have to include this one because despite being, in many ways, well-made, it completely undid its entire story with the wildly ableist ending. It’s been galling to see it receive so much praise when its resolution is a lazy, deeply offensive trope. Drives me nuts!
Okay, negative stuff out of the way, let’s talk about things I liked!
Favorite Performances
Fuaiz Thanawat in 4 Minutes: An absolute scene-stealer as Tonkla, a perfect boy who has never done anything wrong in his life and you can quote me on that.
Aelm Bhumibhat in Spare Me Your Mercy: Every time he was on screen I was like, damn, that actor is good as hell. He’s so shifty and complicated and yet charming as Boss.
Pond Ponlawit in Fourever You: I just love this guy and his big emotive eyeballs. He’s such a delight as Hill, so clearly horribly shy and awkward and insane but he’s got the rizz and you can understand how his character became school idol.
Favorite B Couples
Ing and Yo in I Saw You in My Dream: I don’t know why I loved them so much, but I did. I think part of it was Ing’s actor, who I found very charming, but mostly it was the dynamic of Yo being a huge flirt with Ing pining after him, but in the end Ing is the one with more experience.
Tonkla and Korn in 4 Minutes: To be clear, I think their relationship is Not Good. However. Their storyline…it left me dazed for several days after finishing the show.
Cher and Oyei in Wandee Goodday: Can’t talk about b couples without mentioning these two. I think established relationship b couples can struggle to have much of a presence in a show, but these two were such a firm foundation of family for Yak and also had their own little longterm couple conflicts that felt very real. Because I’m me, I have to include a link to the scene where Yei proposes to Cher, because it actually made me cry.
+ a shoutout to the canon throuple at the end of Deep Night. Iconic behavior.
Biggest Surprises
I Saw You In My Dream: This charmed me so much more than I expected, and is a show that I actually will rewatch because it was such a sweet, comforting story with the warmest family.
Knock Knock Boys: Similar to the above, what got me about this one was the simple sweetness of the relationships, particularly between Peak and Thanwa.
Caged Again: Okay, this one is still airing technically, even if the last couple episodes are available on the WeTV "fastpass” or whatever they’re calling it, but as I’ve been saying, I’ve been so pleasantly delighted by the actors in this and by how fun the story is.
Only Boo!: Sea and Keen really brought this show to life. Loved them and the b couple; in general this was just a lovely, sweet show.
Shows I’d Recommend to People New to QL
Spare Me Your Mercy: Of the Dr. Sam shows this year, this one I think is the most accessible not just to new BL viewers but to general audiences.
Cherry Magic: A very good, delightful adaptation! People who are die-hard fans of the Japanese show might have a hard time—I am having the inverse problem with the Japanese Love in the Air—but as someone who liked the JBL, I really loved how this expanded upon the characters and the story.
Love for Love’s Sake: This show gives a good sense of the vibe of a lot of Korean BLs while also having an isekai concept that sets it apart from the others.
ThamePo: Okay yes, this is still airing, but “idol about to go solo falls in love with the guy filming the documentary about them” is an easy pitch to anyone coming from a music rpf fandom, and so far it’s been so, so good.
Unknown: This recommendation is for people who are fans of the author Priest—this Taiwanese adaptation of her novel Da Ge is wonderfully made and acted. Gives me hope for more Thai adaptations of danmei.
Shows That Rewired My Brain
Wandee Goodday: Look, this show is flawed, particularly toward the end. I think it does a lot of things well—something I’ve been thinking about recently is how both Wandee and Yak have clear goals that keep the plot moving outside of their relationship, which is something a lot of other shows I’ve seen recently have lacked—but the pacing isn’t great, and I still dislike the stuff with Taem’s character. But. But. Watching this electrified me on a molecular level. Their relationship thrilled me. When they finally kissed I lost my mind. What can I say? It got me good.
We Are: I have rewatched this show maybe five times since it aired. I was rewatching episodes as it aired. I’m discovering I love a warm friendship show that also has romance, and that’s what this is. It’s a college au in audio/visual format. It’s perfect.
Love Sea: This show extremely tails off for me, but I absolutely adore Fort and Peat, and boy they got nasty in this one. Hey guys? I’m seeing too much tongue. When Fort cried in the last episode, I said “Oh no” out loud.
4 Minutes and Spare Me Your Mercy: These two get a joint entry because they did similar things to me. I love thrillers, and both of these had me stressed af week to week, but in a good way.
Kidnap: I kept bouncing back and forth on if I liked this show or not, but by the end it had me in its grip. What a deranged piece of television. Ohm and Leng are going to commit crimes in Only Friends 2. Also, this show coined the phrase, “Girl, the cartel???” so it had to be included.
Best Shows, By Which I Mean Shows I Believe Are Very Well-Made
Spare Me Your Mercy: From writing to acting to cinematography, this show is fabulous. The romance is more understated than in a lot of shows, but it’s so integral to the plot and how Kan and Tew operate around each other. This show left me gutted, in the best possible way.
The On1y One: It’s something of a stretch to refer to this as BL since it only adapts the first half of the novel it’s based on and doesn’t get to the characters being in a relationship (yet), but I’m counting it anyway since the obvious romantic yearning these two have for each other fills so much of the story. Fingers crossed we really do get that season 2.
4 Minutes: Dr. Sam knocked it out of the park this year. I think this show has its flaws, but overall I think it hangs together—and holds together better on rewatch—than you’d think.
Cherry Magic: See above! I should also mention that it looks beautiful and that I think Tay and New turn in great performances.
The Time of Fever: Some of the writing could have been a little clearer (although possibly also the subs weren’t great), but it’s such an evocative, emotional look at coming of age and first love.
Personal Favorites
We Are: See above! I should mention that one of my Yuletide gifts was a fic for this show, which I absolutely loved.
Fourever You: This is still airing, but given how much I look forward to it each week, I have to include it, and it’s much farther along than ThamePo, which is the other on-air one I’m tempted to include. I’m apparently just a sucker for basic school romances with the popular boy and the normie.
My Love Mix-Up!: I really enjoyed the original and had a great time with this adaptation, in large part because of Fourth and Gemini and how cute they are.
The Sign: An action-fantasy romance? Hell yeah! Had an absolute blast with this one. I love to see shows try new things, and this one did just that.
Wandee Goodday: Yes, at the end of the day, I gotta admit this show did it for me.
Top 5 Overall
Spare Me Your Mercy
We Are
Cherry Magic
The On1y One
The Sign
And that’s been your year in review! There are others I didn’t mention that others I know loved—My Stand-In and Century of Love, for example—so my apologies to those shows, which I enjoyed well-enough but wasn’t, like, bowled over by. It’s been a strong year, and next year looks to be just as busy. And I’ve got plenty from this year still to catch up on. It’s a golden age for the fujoshi!
I’ll see you in the new year, with new shows and new couples to love!
urs,
hk