u/darfnstyle

The first episodes of both Love Beyond Dreams and AI Girl are among the most captivating GL premieres I've watched this year. The thread of mystery in both stories is great, give you just enough pieces to keep you guessing and theorize about what happened / what might happen next.

I find GL series can sometimes be too predictable, so it's refreshing to watch stories that keep you genuinely curious.

While Love Beyond Dreams didn't end up matching some of the wild fan theories, it was still a very enjoyable journey. Hopefully AI Girl keeps that same balance of mystery and delivers a satisfying payoff.

Existing couple or mix-and-match, who do you cast for the following pitch:

1. A injured athlete slowly spiraling into addiction gets a personal trainer that will help them rebuild both body and mind -
   Trope: hurt/comfort

2. When an unexpected team of thieves gets paired together to steal a legendary gemstone, betrayals, chaos and surprising twists ensues -
   Trope: unexpected partners to lovers

3. For their daughter's birthday, a divorced couple agrees to enter a groundbreaking virtual reality adventure game. When a system failure traps them inside, they must complete a series of quests designed to get a "perfect partners" score in order to log out. -
   Trope: broken marriage, second chance

4. An undercover journalist infiltrates an underground gambling league to investigate the criminal network financing it and find herself attracted to the daughter of the organization's mastermind.
   Trope: forbidden love

5. The worst witch hunter in the kingdom is one failed assignment away from losing her license. So she places a discreet ad in a newspaper to find a witch willing to help her fake successful hunts -
   Trope: opposite attracts

I hate how the girls get dragged in every fanwar about kissing and intimacy on twitter, but there's definitely a reason for it

cr: watermark

https://reddit.com/link/1ubrr7p/video/pd58dz7xdn8h1/player

What a great surprise! I got into it after reading some praise here and I'm happy I did.

The original script is well written and the pacing is adequate for 7 episodes. They took the time to develop the romance while showing the characters background, and tying in some mystery.

The story is engaging enough to make me want to see more, I'm way behind on some other series but this one got me hooked.

The acting is quality, P'Le is stunningly gorgeous, and the chemistry between the leads is excellent.

At first i was not sure about the chemistry, probably because i hate childhood/flashback episodes in almost every show, but EP 3 sold it and I was seated for the remaining episodes.

I was hoping for a more complex ending, with maybe multiple occurences of time travel, or P'Le also getting a second chance. I know there was a lot of theory out there and it would have been great. That would probably have pushed it to my top 3 GL.

They chose a simpler story and even if office romance is not my favorite, the tension and chemistry was there.

My one complaint, apart for the supernatural bit that had no follow trhough would be that a few times dialog (and monologues) felt a bit artificial with too much exposition but that's a default for a lot of GLs.

I'd give it a 8.5/10

Reading the comments on Mine Media and Blejie, plus the conversation about production I was wondering if there is any space in the Thai GL world now for an existing couple to gain more followers by starring in a really good show?

I assume GL general audience, both local and international wants compelling stories, beautiful productions and good writing. But with the current business model of Thai GL this doesn't guarantee breaking even, it might even make you a loser in the game if you spend too much money.

And whatever fame hierarchy we want to use for current GL pairing, I think we can agree it's not all related to acting and series quality.

Most series that have been praised this year have been from new couples (Heart Code, LBD, Shades, EWB) and even if established couples are doing well (Englot, LMSY, FB) do they gain more traction by releasing a new show? Does the quality of the show even matters?

Random example, but if LingOrm new series had been Love Beyond Dreams, would that be a sure way to grow the fanbase?

And I may be wrong but I think if a great show indeed brings new viewers, those fans would probably be casual, not the ones that are very dedicated and willing to spend a lot of money and time into the couple, not people that buy all the merch, make them trend and show up at fan meetings.

I kind of see shows with new couples as marketing strategy, that have to be top notch because Thai GL cake is getting smaller. But established couples is a different phase, and insanely good won't make that much of a difference.

Any thoughts?