Hi Honeys, I am baaaaaack!!

And all it took was two movie and two series that were just made for me because they hit just the right spots.

Like, do you ever just watch that certain series or movie that brings you back to life because of how frikkin good it is to you personally?

Well, these four projects did that for me!

 
 

23.5

The first series is of course 23.5 from Thailand and currently airing, as well as being put up on YouTube every Fridays. It’s just too damn cute, very spicy of life (not a typo) and all around a feel-good series. There was some low-level drama, but it did not last. I am waiting for MY MARVELLOUS DREAM IS YOU to get some real drama! That series, I fear, is going to be the true rival series to GAP!

23.5 is the kind of yuri that I have always been into, you know, the soft, feel good kind. We will definitely be talking about this later.

But what first really tickled my barren heart was the obscure Korean series which aired at the end of last year  and is what we are here today to talk about and that’s BITCH x RICH!

Now, before you go off hunting and then end up disappointed, I must tell you now that it is not a yuri series (Not yet anyway, as far as I am concerned)!

BITCH x RICH

What is that you ask? Well, that right there is the title of the series that rocked my world! It came out towards the end of last year but like I said, under my radar! What about it, that is so ground-breaking? Absolutely nothing really! Most would argue it is not gay! But if you know me, I guess therein lies the reason! But before we get into it, there are also two movies that doubled down on the addiction!

 
 

DRIVE AWAY DOLLS

and

 
 

THE BEAUTIFUL FOREST

That’s right, two movies that just got released or are still in cinemas as I write this. Starting with DRIVE AWAY DOLLS, starring fan favourite Margaret Qualley as Jamie and the totally hooking new face Geraldine Viswanathan as Marian!

This movie is frikkin unique and so damn perfect! I adore it in every way! I saw the signs and set expectations which are normally let down due to my over ambitiousness, but this movie not only brought everything full circle and granted my wish, but they did it so perfectly without any eye-rolling moments of, oh God, so cliche!

Then we have THE BEAUTIFUL FOREST, the best frikkin Italian lesbian movie I have ever seen! Now that we are mentioning it, I cannot on the top of my head, think of an Italian movie that has been mentioned on my blog! There are series but no movies! Could it be, my Italian kino cherry has finally been popped!!?

This movie has the most romantic dance scene with any couple ever! And I have seen Henry & June! Believe it all not, it topped the aforementioned without even relying on kisses! That scene was so damn good! Will never be forgotten! I have it in the same category as The Handmaiden’s tooth scene!

So, as you can see, after these three projects I just could not stay in hibernation anymore! I just had to come back to the world of the living and share my excitement, as is always the case!

Well then, let’s get this party started!

 

 
 

BITCH X RICH aka BITCH AND RICH

I can already see some of you going, ‘So it’s not gay? Then WTF yo!?!’!

Well, currently I much prefer subtext over spoon-feeding because 99% of the time, the subtext is much better written than the alternative! This series naturally builds the relationship between Baek Jenna (The Rich Bitch) played by Yeri 예리 – Kim Ye-Rim 김예림 – Red Velvet’s Yeri, and then the not your typical lead Kim Hye-In (who I personally think is the Bitch in this title in contrast to Jenna’s Rich, because that girl could a bitch but exclamation marks on that!) played by Lee Eun-Saem 이은샘!

ATTENTION!!!!

I AM MAKING JENNA MY WHOLE PERSONALITY FOR 2024!!!!

Like Jesus Christ!!! I found myself capturing every second of her whenever she was on screen! How can anyone be this beautiful!?!! How can a character like hers not have a line of Dudes all over her and girls making carpets for her to walk on top of?

First flag right there!

By flag, I mean that Baek Jenna has no boyfriend or anyone crushing on her! Like, that is madness! A character of her caliber should have lines of interest and yet, she does not have any! Better still, she has no interest in anyone at all! Like, what kind of Korean drama is this!?!

The other flag that made my heart do special things, is the fact that despite being. The queen bee of the school, and by that, I mean that Jenna was someone you do not fuck with, she was letting Hye-In walk all over her! Not only did Hye-In physically assault her, twice I might add, she even robbed her and yet she is still breathing!

Look, this might be the most coincidental of coincidences but who are we kidding!! These writers knew exactly what they were doing! It is not like there was a lack of romance going on, nay, every other character was normal, except our two main girls!

Leaving Jenna for a second, let us talk about the protag Hye-In!

Hye-In is even more curious than Jenna! First, she is the protagonist! How in the name of all that is holy, does a protagonist get on without a love interest?! And unlike Jenna, Hye-In had two guys vying for her! It was presented as your typical threesome that even without making a choice, it would have been viable!

Adding more fire, they even went as far as trying, by having Hye-In and one of the lads come out as a couple to the school. It was of course fake because it was a result of a deal made between the two. Hye-In would gain security and not have Jenna and the school eat her alive, and the lad would get information from Hye-In about who killed his girlfriend (the main thread of the story).

In the beginning it looked legit but later you see the time they made the deal and what the deal was, and you know 100% there are no feelings between these two whatsoever! I must admit, I was getting a bit worried! The lad was like being all alpha and a knight to Hye-In so you can imagine my glee and shock when I found out it was all fake!

The other guy is still a bit of a threat because while to him, he had lost the battle to the other lad, what, with Hye-In and the other lad coming out to the school as dating, he is genuinely caring and lovable and if there is more seasons, if they were to happen, I wouldn’t be that mad.

But we are living in the present and in the present, the only person who has Hye-In’s attention is Jenna!

The same is true in reversal, in that Hye-In has Jenna’s full attention! Apart from Hye-In, the only other person who affects Jenna’s world is her soon-to-be stepmother and her cram teacher, that is looking to mess up her world, if she has not already done so!

Speaking of which, only Hye-In knows of this predicament, well, for the time being!

Something I must mention, something I thought of in my sick mind, is that Jenna is a princess, like, really, so given her status, the fact that it is only Hye-In who treats her like that, so roughly, so equally, Jenna must love it and treasure that so much on the inside!

Humans need adrenaline and when you are docile for so long, your body produces less and less adrenaline. We need this to feel alive and you could see that before Hye-In, Jenna was just going along with the flow but now, she is more alive, she shows more variety of emotions.

Hye-In gives Jenna life!

You all know how I feel about relationships that affect the other person’s life!

Hye-In all but became Jenna’s only real friend by the end of season one! And we shall be getting back to that ending! For now, Hye-In is the only person to see all sides of Jenna! She saw her wrath, well, felt it, saw her fears, when she protected her from her future evil stepmother, she saw her soft side, when Jenna tried to comfort her, and while we are yet to get there, I am sure she would soon feel her love as well!

The story so far has been about the two of them slowly but surely merging lives! By the end of the season, that merger finally happened! And girl, did it happen!

In other stories, this development would take just an episode or two but here it took the whole season for them to get to a peaceful bonding and I love it so much!!! I love slow burns! This series was created just for me it seems like!

There were scenes where any other story would not have resisted to jump the gun, like after Hye-In saved Jenna from her future mother before she got a heart attack, or during the bar party of one of the elites’ engagements where anyone else would have had Hye-In keeping Jenna company.

Here though, they kept things rolling! Sure, they had a normal conversation for a change, but it was more like Hye-In asking Jenna a question that she answered.

Now, not to say there was not any juicy stuff happening. Hye-In kept getting her attention drawn to lonesome Jenna sitting there by herself, again, something very shocking, but she was that kind of person! Hye-In kept stealing glances towards her but thankfully, she did not approach her, except later to ask about the necklace.

Again, something I love about how so different Jenna is from any other typecast character for her role. She is not a people person or an attention seeker! Sure, she still has that privileged personality that comes with the package, but she is authentic. It is not air. That is what other characters in the series do, something she hates!

I just love her deeply!

Another interesting bit is that, just like she forced herself into Jenna’s life in the very beginning of their meeting and coming into her family drama when she came to Jenna’s rescue, Hye-In was also the one to make the first move when she…she…

TOOK JENNA OVER TO HER HOME!!!!

After forcing herself into Jenna’s car and demanding a ride to said home, by the way!

The scene sent me to the moon and back, all because of word choices and Jenna’s reactions! While Hye-In thought that Jenna’s reaction was to how measly her home might be compared to Jenna’s, I had a whole different view.

Jenna was like all of us when we first got invited to our love’s home! She was nervous for a completely different reason! The scene in the bedroom when Hye-In, once again, demanded Jenna to go over to her (“COME HERE!” – she had commanded), Jenna’s face had a ‘what are you going to do to me?’ kind of reaction.

To tell the truth, when Hye-In said those words, I have never hollered so hard!!

And then watching Jenna going over to her at a hurtful slow pace, keeping you wondering what is going to happen next, me and Jenna were in the same head space in that moment!

Did I mention that I am making her my whole personality? Because I am making her my whole personality!!

Sadly, or thankfully because I do not know how I would have survived that ending, all Hye-In wanted to do was show Jenna the necklace that she had asked her about at the party – a necklace that vindicated Jenna’s friends as the culprits.

That was the main thread of the story. A classmate with the same name as Hye-In was killed on Hye-In’s first day but she was the only one who knew that it was not suicide. Dude2, who was the boyfriend of the dead girl somehow found out and wanted Hye-In to tell him who the culprit was. This was the reason why they pretend dated, he to get that information and Hye-In to get protection from Jenna, as Dude2 was on the top list and no messing with top list crop, even the lovers.

Despite that being the main thread, the season ends right after we find out who killed the student. Probably made a lot of people angry but I was happy because it wasn’t just Jenna and Hye-In’s relationship that got affected by the sudden end! Both threads; The murder and Hye-In and Jenna’s relationship, were just hitting the climax when the season ended!

Yes, I have already beaten that dead horse, of when series writers leave things for the next season! Like, you do not know if there is a next season! Stop saving the best for the next season! A lot of things can happen between the first and starting production on the second, both professional and personal!

Tell the story that you wanted to tell when you are given the chance. There might not be another chance, or the chance might be taken away! You can tease what is to come all you want but if what you have given so far is unsatisfactory, there might not be a second chance!

Now, sure I love slow burns but if they are going to suffer a sudden cut like this, one must be wary! Seeing how under the radar this series went, seriously, how did I not know about this before?! I feel a great foreboding for this series’ season two. Thankfully, South Korea rarely cancel their shows so there is that.

I just want to get the resolution to the two questions posed by Hye-In. The first being what a girl like Baek Jenna is missing in their life! We as viewers can speculate as much as we want but I want Hye-In to find out for herself and what she will do about it! The other being Jenna herself not being that real love exists, or that people from different classes can love each other without strings being attached. Will she finally learn what true love is? How will she learn this when we haven’t seen her make eyes at anyone or anyone make moves on her, well, except Hye-In. If they don’t forget about these two very important points, I am in for a WIN, I just know it!

All being said, the consensus is that I frikkin love the show as shown by Jenna taking over my personality! I cannot wait for the second season, and I hope it will happen soon and not be like the waiting times for The Witch Part 2!

I love Baek Jenna!

Ja