The Sign: Uncut

IGNORE THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS, AND TAKE MY REVIEW AS A +VE SIGN TO WATCH THIS SERIES!

First of all, let me congratulate my dear Saint for building his own production house Idolfactory after all the hardships and criticisms he faced. He is giving a tough competition to all those big production houses.
So, let me talk about the premises: The story is set in a special forces academy at first, which is a very rare scenario in a Thai series. It showed the intensive training of the cops. Next, the characters become cops and are a part of an investigative defense force, so they deal with the cases. Their analytical thinking and problem-solving skills outshines here. The main base for the series is the Hindu mythological story of Naga(snake) and Garuda(eagle). As an Hindu, I knew all about the rivalry between Naga and Garuda and I really thank Idolfactory for spreading our culture and stories through this series. It was so fun to watch the stories I only heard of.
Billy and Babe did an incredible job as the main leads. Billy had improved his acting skills so much and Babe was a rookie but still slayed the role. Heng as the villain rocked....he needs to win the best villain award. Gap as the brother Yai won my heart. All the side characters and guest roles did their jobs perfectly...that's why the series is so flawless. I love how along with each case we came to know more about art, drugs, sexual abuse and so on. The series dealt with numerous social issues with each episode. What astonishes me the most this series has every genre in it - crime, thriller, mystery, romance, comedy, myth, suspense, but yet everything is blended properly. Most of the series fail when it comes to plot execution because they tried to include more genres, but The Sign succeeded in doing so. You can literally feel the hard work that was put behind to create this show.
The visuals was such an eye-candy and all the aesthetics was so pleasing. The CGI team needs a raise, because that was Hollywood-level VFX. The flow of the story and editing was impressive. I have a ton of scenes that has beautiful shots and transitions. Every scene was unskippable and interesting. I loved the cliffhanger ending too.
The OST always sends shivers down my spine. I don't know why. It has some kind of power to it.
Overall a must watch. You are missing out on a great series if you haven't watched this yet. Even if you don't like BLs, trust me you should watch this series and you will never ever regret it. I WANT TO RATE THIS 1000/10.

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Fun as a copaganda romance drama, less fun as a supernatural romance drama

It was a fun copaganda show, but I’m not a huge fan of the supernatural storyline they went with.

Acting:

It was mostly solid. I think everyone did a good job in their roles. I really liked Akk as Akk, I think he did a great job along with the rest of the supporting cast. The story was a bit wild and overdramatic in its writing, but I think Billy and Babe still did a good job with their performances. I needed more impactful breakdown scenes, though.

Writing:

It was pretty good up until the end. I am not a huge fan of past life karma and all that jazz, but I do typically like reincarnation stories. I just think the story was a bit too much. Like they bit off more than they could chew with this one. I need more from a time apart followed by a reunion situation. I need there to be a devastating emotional impact shown through the writing and cinematography choices in a drama. I think Thai dramas need to take a note out of New Moon and do the changing of seasons/passing of months falling into darkness vibe for these time apart plots to really fuck you up and make the reunion feel more impactful. Idk, I needed a bit more than what the story gave and how they executed it. I enjoyed the first like 10 or so episodes though.

Chemistry/Romance/Kissing:

Chemistry was pretty solid. I think it was better in the first half of the show, though. This was an okay romance. I think they could have executed it a bit better. The kissing was good all around.

NC Scenes:

Loved the dream sequences, gotta appreciate someone with a good imagination. The first scene was pretty darn well done. It has sensuality, desire, and intimacy. The second one felt so out of place, I lowkey may have skipped through it.

Music/SFX:

Music was fine, nothing amazing but nothing horrendous. SFX were mostly good, with a couple of exceptions like some of the footsteps were too loud and stuff like that.

Production/Cinematography:

Most of it was pretty good. However, I can’t review this without pointing out that, MAYBE just maybe, we should have designed this story to fit the level of CGI it called for. Maybe just tone it down a bit because it really do be taking me out of the story. Like I said before, they may have bitten off more than they could chew. That being said, I do appreciate that they stuck by the decision to make the story like this and use CGI, which I don’t often see in dramas. It could open up some doors and whatnot. Costumes were a bit lackluster as well. I think there were some interesting shots, some maybe a bit too peculiar for the mood of a scene, though.

It was alright. Didn’t love it, but it never turned into a hate-watch situation.

Now, for some highlights from my notes:

- Okay, love a cold open
- It’s reeeal convenient that there are 5 of them in this little group and there are only 5 spots to fill for the special investigation force
- Wasn’t expecting this to be quite so supernatural but also it’s called The Sign so I should’ve known
- Girly read my mind with that Aokigahara comparison
- Doc is a mf snaakkee
- The visuals are givinggg
- Grandma is lowkey kinda annoying
- Giving a new meaning to going hard in the paint
- Shit’s sensual, bro
- Please stop killing EACH OTHER???? Bro WHAT do you MEAN
- “He’s dead. Please try to get over it.” Thanks, grandma. You’re a real gem
- Bro is broken fr
- Baby just waltzed his way up the hill like that 365 days later
- Not the best reunion scene out there, but not the worst

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