Good acting but boring storyline...
The only feeling I had throughout was that the series had been wrongly named. I expected different with such a strong name... Comparatively I really enjoyed Only Friends, which has been made at the same time...It felt too dragged at some places...
I have no complaints regarding the acting. The cast has really acted well... It really feels like they have adopted the characters into themselves.
But the storyline seems too straight...
Or it might be that watching other dramas with likable content has set my bars high...
But don't give this review too much importance... Watch it and decide for yourself... Mightbe you enjoy it...
Was this review helpful to you?
It's over for me!!!!
I don't think I'll watch this series until the end. I finished the episode 3 weeks ago and can't bring myself to continue. I need to tell this "I'm sorry, but it's boring".When I saw the trailer, I was so excited, because it promised a lot. But the story isn't good for me. I expected things to happen differently. Joke even trying to help Zo with Nita and their feelings developing along the way. I would have liked to see Zo trying to win Nita over, not fall for Joke so quickly.
I like a soft love story with no big drama, but let's be serious, this isn't "My School President".
I like Dunk and Joong, but I don't see the chemistry between them. I didn't see it in their preview series "Star and Sky" either. I always get the feeling that Dunk can't get emotionally involved, that he can't convey the feelings to us, the viewers. When I see Zo, I see Dunk. They have the same behavior towards Joong/Joke.
Was this review helpful to you?
What was the point of this?
Seriously, what was the point of this? It had no direction and felt like it had no clue what it was trying to accomplish. There were some interesting threads that could have massively improved the story had they been focused on properly, but instead every couple of episodes had a new flimsy story arc.It doesn't help that the two leads have the weakest acting in the whole series. Dunk's weak acting has been talked to death, but in my opinion his main issue is how stilted his performance feels - he needs to work on making it feel more natural. Joong is definitely better, but still nothing to write home about - whilst he is more of a natural, he needs to work on his range and bring more depth.
Aou and Boom are of course the shining light in this show, and not in it nearly enough. Their chemistry is so natural and they are very sweet together. The issues they faced in their relationship were quite moving, especially Boom's performance, but it was undercut by a half baked story arc.
Overall, I would say it's a pretty mindless watch - only bother putting this on if you want an easy show that you can half pay attention to.
Was this review helpful to you?
Hidden agenda or hidden PLOT?
This was definitely a snoozefest.In 12 episodes I can barely remember anything that happened. Every week a new episode came out I had already forgotten the last one.
Zo is not a likeable character. At any point. Also no matter what happens; big, small, happy, or sad, Dunk's acting stays the exact same. 😭
Zo could manage to give the dead whiplash with all the back and forth he put Joke through. Joong was good, I adore him, but even he couldn't save this show. He needs a script that will showcase his talent and a partner who can show emotions and give chemistry.
I'd recommend this if you want something kinda low key, medium angst?
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Your Expectations Are Accurate
I'm one of the few people that isn't tired of university dramas. I know that we've seen similar love dynamics thousands of times, that we can predict every single move these boys will make. I'm okay with that because just because it plays into common tropes doesn't necessarily mean it'll be bad. What determines quality is how the show executes those tropes.Unfortunately, Hidden Agenda doesn't do anything revolutionary, and having seen so many GMMTV shows, I don't know why I expected any different.
My main issue with Hidden Agenda, and many other BLs in general, is that the plot is nonexistent. Even if a show has so much potential, the writers complete the entire plot in the first three or four episodes and then drag out the characters actually getting together for far too long. It's fine to have scenes where characters are being lovey-dovey for the safe of being lovey-dovey, but that can't drive a plot.
And it seemed like the writers understood that because then they started throwing plot points at the show hoping one would stick -- an evil ex-friend, a stalker, disappointed parents, a debate competition! But all of those would be resolved fairly anticlimactically in an episode and a half each plot point. So what was the point? To show that their love can withstand all? I'm not really believing it.
There was a surprising amount of depth and complexity to Jeng and Pok's relationship - hiding their relationship when one clearly longs to be public. It was actually so much more interesting than Joke and Zo's plot, and because the writers were taking their time in building out their exposition, I had hope that Jeng and Pok's relationship would be the redeeming factor of the show.
But of course, like all plots in Hidden Agenda, it was completed too soon, too hastily that I was left to wonder if I was imagining the potential their story had.
And then in the last three episodes, the show decided to finally show its worth with an actually substantive plot. Zo is stressing over the upcoming debate competition as he believes it's his one opportunity to make his mom proud, and we find out in the last episode that Joke is the black sheep of the family and he struggles with gaining their acceptance. The latter is criminally underdeveloped and cobbled together and concluded in just two scenes, and sadly this is where we see the best performance by Joong. Despite horrifically awkward writing where we get whiplash by the grandpa who in basically less than five minutes both cuts Joke down a few notches by practically calling him a degenerate in front of the whole family AND THEN asks Joke for a hug and tells him he's proud of him, Joong manages to move my heart with his tears.
I knew going into this show, I probably would be disappointed. And I was, but not nearly as much as other shows, and in fact, it almost became fun since I was hate-writing pages full of notes. You get what you expect and nothing more. I need to stop expecting GMMTV to blow me away with an underrated gem because that hasn't happened in a long, long time.
Was this review helpful to you?
Not the best, not the worst
Unlike it’s title Hidden Agenda is pretty fluffy. Hardly any angst. If you’re looking for an easy watch that doesn’t take a lot of brain power this is the one. Joong’s acting is stiff and Dunk’s acting is awkward, especially when he has to act frustrated. Thing is when Joong and Dunk are together they’re pretty good. Probably because they’re comfortable with each other.I would say my only problem with the writing is the little angst they do have feels like the writers were stretching it. I thought no one would actually get this upset over something like that. If you’re looking for a fluffy and easy watch then try it out. Don’t look for an interesting story with this one.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
I'm sorry, but no
This series is supposed to be romance but the script makes it feel like horror comedy, I had to cover my face due to its cringey-ness and I laughed because some of the scenes just don't make senseLook, I'm trying to finish this series but after 4 episodes it didn't get better, it just got worse... Joong and Dunk might be not the best actor out there but even this is not about their acting anymore. This is not the case of good story bad acting, it's more like decent acting horrible story. I don't even understand the story progression, suddenly they're here, suddenly they're there, suddenly this happened and boom! they fall in love even harder with each other. It just doesn't make sense, there are so many plot holes and the story feels like a fever dream. It's all over the place. It feels like you're trying to piece a long script from scraps of scenes, it has all the tropes that you would find in a cliche romance story, but even doing all that didn't bring anything to the table. Sad. The dialogues are cringe, their gestures are cringe, their acting are cringe, at this point I feel like this is not JoongDunk's fault, it's just the story and directing is bad. Which is sad because GMMTV had produced better series, and THIS NOT IT!!!
It's actually disappointing because I love Joong and Dunk, I also feel like they deserve better movies because they had the potential as a couple, great chemistry, and both are good looking. They have all the equations to complete the formula to be a big BL couple. But sadly they somehow always ended up doing movies with a bad script. I thought they would get something better after Star in My Mind (which I liked), that's why I am anticipating Hidden Agenda. It has the same story outline like 2gether but somehow this fails miserably. Hopefully, they will got better projects in the future. Good luck Joong Dunk!!!
Was this review helpful to you?
A typical romcom with secret crush
I found this cz i was looking for something similar to "star in my mind" and when I watched it probably cz the leads were the same it felt like i was watching the same. So i put it on hold it after a while it gave the same vibes.I'm back again now i feel it's not that bad. It's a sweet romcom. Just don't watch this if you've been watching fluff for a while. This is something you'd like as a stress buster. I'm watching it along with "goddess bless u from death" so it helps me balance out my emotions on one side i have this calm and sweet romcom and other is horror🤭
At one point it's just them going on dates for multiple episodes... there's pretty much nothing going on. This should have been an 8 episode drama instead of 12
I'd just say if u watch it as a stress buster u would like it if not you'll get bored. I'm dropping it. Tried 3 times but i just couldn't watch all the fluff with little to no plot.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
A Good Bad Series
I enjoyed this series a lot. It made me fall in love with JoongDunk.HOWEVER:
1) Imagine if they used "the struggle to make someone proud of you" as a theme throughout the series! It had so much potential, but they chose to use it only at the end of it. WHY?
The wrinting wasn't good. Unfortunately, this has become a recurrent thing in many GMMTV shows.
2) I love JoongDunk's chemistry and I want to see it again in future series, but PLEASE give Dunk more acting class! Chemistry alone cannot carry a series by itself. In some scenes, his acting wasn't good enough. And I was sad to see it. It felt like it got worse since SIMM.
3) WHY THE HELL JengPok had so little screen time??? It's not bad writing, it's a crime at this point. So many series benefit from giving screentime to a second/side couple, but not this show. WHY? Their storyline could be a series by itself.
Moreover, Boom (Pok) acting was so good that it surpised me. Give him a main role!
Another wasted potential!
Despite all the flaws HA has, it was an enjoyable show. It also made me cry here and there!
If you are looking for a series where you don't need to use your brain, I suggest to watch Hidden Agenda.
Especially if you like good kissing scenes ;D
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
This is the story about Zo & Joke. As MDL told us, this drama begin with Zo that decided to pursue his long-time crush Nita before graduation. In order to pursue her, he approaches Joke, Nita's ex, for dating advice. In exchange Joke ask for a place in the debate club. Or, at least, that's what he tells Zo, cause like the title said, Hidden Agenda.What I like:
+ Zo is good man, weird sometimes but good. He bothered to explained his feeling to nita before moving forward with Joke.
+ Joke & Zo have problem with their parent. I like how they help each other to deal with their parents, Zo help Joke & Joke help Zo. And how everything solve & be better in the end.
Now what I feel strange about this drama:
- The plot feel weird. I don't know, it feel like jumping from place to place. It feel like there's something missing, but they don't include it in the final cut. It's like when Zo said he gonna enlisted in military during vacation, but we never see him join military. Or when Zo's dad get into hospital, he just make space with joke, yeah he explained it later but before that feel like there's missing scene...
- The chemistry between Dunk Natachai Boonprasert & Joong Archen Aydin themselves feel strange. It feels like they uncomfortable with each other. It feel like the actors is not gay but force to play gay man & had to kiss a man make them uncomfortable.
Overall this just another drama on my list
Was this review helpful to you?
The story is not too promising; there was no exact scene that I would love to go back watching. The acting was not really phenomenal but it was good and could have been improved.
I was really expecting more from the other love team because they actually look good and their story made more sense to me than the leads but they unfortunately up until the last episode, they did not dwell on that. They even had an emotional scene.
Hoping for more projects with better plot this year for both couples.
Was this review helpful to you?
it is so bad, I want to give you a 0, but that's not possible, so I give you a 1
I really don't care if there's a kiss, bed or whatever scene, I only care about a good story and acting, but the main couple it's just so boring and their acting is bad, not even a good ost 😭 tbh I got so bored that I just skipped every single episode and the only parts I watched were about pok and jeng bc their story is more entertaining even with the little screentime and the fact that they're not the main couple. Just give them a own show pls their acting is better and chemistry is insane.look, I understand that there are bls to just have fun and don't think too much while you're watching it, I enjoy those bls too but this is definitely one of the worst I've watch, not entertaining, script and acting is bad (for main couple) there are things that don't make sense or that are just out of pocket, etc.
I don't recommend watching it. if you're interested in the other couple just watch a compilation and don't waste your time.
also, I hope the main couple gets a better bl and acting classes.
Was this review helpful to you?
