While in the past I’ve had a few posts on my favorite BLs, I’ve never talked about the ones I didn’t like or the ones that really irritated me, coming out the end going “Why did I watch this? I hated everyone.” Well, that’s what this post is… a collection of my least favorite BL series with the idea that maybe you can avoid them, that our time watching them was really just a case of us taking one for the team.
Ben X Jim
Oh, how I hated Jim. Ben deserved so much better than him! I’d sit there watching this friends to lovers (?) just gritting my teeth. There was a follow-up series that for some reason I want to see in order to see if it gets any better or if it just continues along the road of ugh I originally experienced. Plus, I need to find out more of that family connection… why the families don’t even want them to be friends.
Boy Band Love
Love in a boyband? Man, this had all fans of dramas, of bl and Kpop salivating, wanting this to be good and it….wasn’t. It was bad. Really bad. It was almost crack-ish, making us bing it thinking that might make it more palatable, and yet, it still wasn’t. And the entire last episode was a ‘concert’ filled with ‘music’ we didn’t care about.
Color Rush
I hate that I have a Korean show on my list as, while they are slow to hop on the BL train, their content has been excellent and a few of them were on the shortlist for my favorite BLs post. But Color Rush was not one of them. The story of an alternate reality where people who can’t see colors have one…kind of a color soul mate who can make them see colors while in their presence. Downside? It makes the colorblind person go a little crazy and eventually murder and eat them. The storyline had a feel of a badly written fanfic come to life. Or, a badly written fanfic that has plotting and world-building possibilities but squanders them? Yep, that pretty much sums up Color Rush. I think this show would have been better as a full series (Koreans BLs are like a movie, chopped up into bite-sized episodes.) too much story and worldbuilding needed in too short a time. There is going to be a season two, but we’ll see if that clears things up or makes them worse.
En Of Love: Tossara
Ooh this is the backstory of a serial killer, I feel it in my bones. One of those, they dig up all the bodies in the backyard, including that of his first victim, his boyfriend, and the neighborhood says “He was always a little weird.” I don’t know if it was the story or the glasses, but the whole time I’m just yelling at the guy he was pursuing to RUN, GET OUT OF THERE…and that’s probably not the reaction the production was going for. Skip this and go directly to the second edition of the En of Love Series, it’s much better.
He She It
We were waiting for this one for a while. We loved the actors in Ingredients but YIKES this was awful. I’m not certain you can have a BL where one of them straight-up murders the other in the first episode. And the ghost is definitely going after the wrong people. Instead of your friends, maybe go after the guy who legit caused your death? At least we got the actor pairing out of it? But besides that, give this a pass.
HISTORY 4: Close To You (Half of it)
Yep, this is absolutely a cheat as I loved half of this show and hated the second half. The best friend couple? ACES. Super cute and I’d watch it again and again for them. The step-brother storyline that starts out with one of them sexually assaulting the other while the step-mom knew of the plan? GROSS. I’m sorry, you can’t come back from sexual assault. You can’t make it cute. You can’t make it something that the one character did FOR the other so they could eventually have their happy ending. Why they thought this was a good idea I have no clue, but it shows we still have some space to grow here. UGH.
I am Your King 2
This is a TERRIBLE series I just felt gross watching it. The high schooler who gets wrapped up in a brother love triangle and the creepy sex games they play. It would have been okay if he’d ended up with the younger brother but the older? Just ew and has slight pedo vibes.
Papa & Daddy
This drama was created for the LGBT streaming service Gagaoolala. It was GREAT up until the last episode. If it hadn’t been for the last episode, this probably would have been on my favorites list. Everyone explains away the ending by saying “They were planning on a season two” but they are missing the point, just how big and bad the ‘twist’ betrayal was. It ruined not only the illusions of their family but also our idea of Damian being a good guy. Instead, he’s now weak and manipulative in my eyes. UGH, such a waste. I almost canceled my subscription after this one.
Saifah Zon Story
This is a special episode, so I’m not certain it belongs on the list, but it was so awful to me that I have to add it in. After the filming of Why R U? The creators announced that the second couple Saifah and Zon had their story truncated due to COVID, which was a surprise to me though as I thought they ended in a great place with everything wrapped up in a pretty little bow. In order to ‘complete the story’ they came out with this stinker of a special episode. If this had been in the main series I would have been PISSED. It almost ruined the couple for me and I now have to pretend in my head that it never happened.
SOTUS
This will probably get me maimed, but I didn’t like SOTUS. It was huge back in the day, but the hazing was a bit much for me and made it painful to watch. By the end of the series, I couldn’t figure out why the two were together.
Stage Of Love
We want to give this show a pass as it’s the first BL series from Vietnam (or at least the information I have says it is) but its just so badly written, acted, and produced. We managed to make our way through the whole thing but why? I’m not entirely certain. Its also how I feel about why the two are together in the end. Why? I’m not entirely certain.
Stuck On You
This show was the woooorrrrst. Is Reb one of the dumbest characters ever written? Quite possibly. “I’m on a hookup app, but not to hook up, just to share my music.” Every turn I just found myself rolling my eyes. I know they bill him as a hopless romantic but he’s just….ugh. If I weren’t watching with another person, this absolutely would have been bailed on.
Win Jamie’s Heart
I don’t understand what the point or the end game was for this show. Jamie attempting to find his bestie Heart a new boyfriend and Win stepping into the role because he has a thing for Win? But not telling Heart that’s why he was being so sweet to her? Gross. I can’t even think that the end game is some sort of thruple, which would have been better than whatever this was.
So, not all BLs are winners. It actually makes me feel better that I”m not just liking BLs because they are BL. I still have story standards. Yay.
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