Coffee Shop (2022)

short and sweet

Overall: this is short but I'll take anything with Boy and Tod. Each of the first three episodes was its own story (f/f, m/f and m/m) with the barista being the common thread. However, episode 4 has built upon episode 3 and then episode 5 had Boy and
Tod's characters as well. 8 episodes each under 13 minutes. Aired on YouTube https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPuEVm3l9__r5Ee9s1eSK24eogZ4E6yf1&si=OLooQUnkQpTQZfg5

What I Liked
- f/f relationship in episode 1
- cute moments
- plot tie ins with the type of coffee drink
- ep 3: those white short shorts and the cats
- ep 4: supportive friends and a decent plan
- it's really rare to see exes like this, so that was nice to see

Room For Improvement
- audio isn't the best for dialogue, seemed the worst in ep 1
- comedy sound effects
- the final episode didn't do anything to indicate it was the last episode
- it's obviously a plug for the Vibie app (with listing the actors' Vibie usernames), but I don't really care because it's a cute series

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If you don't have the budget, you should you use it to your advantage

Overall, I liked the idea -- people coming into a café where its barista can make a coffee flavored drink based on the cup you choose and then, when you drink it, it will help with the problem you currently have.
It's an interesting twist on shows with similar ideas like the Japanese "Three Star Bar" or the S-Korean "Would you like a cup of coffee".
I also don't mind that it is basically just a long commercial for the Vibie platform.

What I do mind is that the production is lacking.
In episode one, there are serious sound problems, which do get better in the following episodes.
The acting is bad to mediocre -- considering that most of the people are just internet personalities, not actors, it is probably to be expected.
The set is ... obviously a set that is trying very hard to be a real café. I can only guess why they couldn't rent an actual café for their filming or why the set looks so cheap (what café has only one table and a sofa and is an office space converted to a café?) -- probably they did not have the budget.

In my view, if you don't have enough money to make things look good, you should either choose a story to something you can afford (the new "Fake Buddies" did this very well) or you "own" it. Why not go all the way and make it obvious that this is a set? Let it take place on a theatre stage, make the props look like props -- except maybe for the magical coffee -- theatre is magic, and the way the drinks help people is too -- and with this, you'd have made a mediocre story with a small budget into something special.
As it is, I can only say: Nice try, do better next time.

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