The Wicked Game (2025)

Catastrophique, mais dès le début

En général, il faut attendre l'épisode 4 ou 5 pour commencer à voir des incohérences ou des moments lourds ou illogique.
Au moins ici on sait à quoi s'en tenir dès le premier épisode. Donc si vous espérez que ça va s'arranger par après, fuyez au plus vite car ça ne va qu'empirer.

Vraiment rien à en retirer : de la manipulation, du mensonge, de la trahison, le tout bien récompensé car faut pas déconner non plus avec la tradition fleur bleue et le pardon aux méchants chez les Thaï.

Une réalisation exécrable mais qui s'obstine à nous montrer des scènes de combat réalisé par des enfants de primaire, et des scènes de tire dans lesquels on a visiblement engagé les anciens Storm Troopers de Star Wars. (3 gars dans un couloir, 5 autres qui tirent, et personnes n'est touché.) (des pistolets avec des chargeurs de 50 balles) (et des effets de balles qui ressemblent à des tirs de rayon laser).

On a même droit au personnage insupportable qui HURLEEEEEEEE du début à la fin. (tel un perso d'anime)

Et une intrigue qui se veut profonde mais dont on comprend tout dès l'épisode 3 (et je suis gentil).

J'ai fini par regarder les derniers épisodes en accéléré car ça devenait n'importe quoi.

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Soap opera level chaos in designer packaging!

I can’t believe I’m rating a Daou & Offroad series this low, but it is what it is.
This is one of those dramas that seduces you in the beginning with attractive leads, dramatic tension and mystery around them simmering in the air and for a moment, it would fool you into believing that you have stumbled upon something gripping and intense. And then slowly...the realisation sank that all jazz and pretty people can't hide the fact that the story underneath is paper-thin and strangely uninterested in making ANY EMOTIONAL SENSE whatsoever. I won't say it didn't have the right idea or ambition but there was too much going on all the time and it kept tripping over and collapsing its own over-the-top drama.

The plot has a bit of everything except mystery or good action drama. It was like a daily melodrama stuffed with family revenge plots, emotional manipulation, corruption, and narcissistic parenting. And I am not talking about it in a fun or self-aware way, no. This is the kind of lakorn style exaggeration where logic has little or no place. The tone swings wildly. One minute passionate, the next unhinged and instead of intensity, it simply feels exhausting.

Let's start with the main couple, Pheem and Than, I don't know how to categorise or describe their relationship. It is disturbing in many aspects. There is morally grey, and then there is downright vicious. They fall into the latter. The manipulation isn’t cathartic either and neither does it teach either of the characters anything meaningful. It’s simply cruelty turned into a plot device. And because the drama never properly confronts the consequences of the behaviour, the entire relationship begins to feel hollow and unsettling.

Coming to other supporting characters, all of them I repeat, all of them, including Than and Pheem need to be in jail or in therapy. The so-called father figure is a walking nightmare. Even though he hasn't done the most vile things out of all the antagonist, he fuelled the feud between his 3 children. The siblings don’t fare much better either. The brother is a caricature of entitlement. The sister is written like the drama wanted her to be a cunning heir but forgot to give her depth. It’s difficult to root for anyone when half the cast is unbearable and the rest barely makes sense.

If there is any redeeming quality about this, that would be the chemistry between the leads. The weak script didn't help at all, but it would have been worse without them. Their interactions whether tense, tender or morally questionable still managed to bring a reaction out (happy or sad). Their chemistry felt like a flame trapped in this storm of weak writing. I feel like dialling down the melodrama and maybe bringing them on more screen would have worked better.

Production looked fine. The fight sequences were okay too but the CGI editing, like the bullets, was very lame. Acting-wise, I was not impressed with anyone. It wasn't bad at all, but nothing to run home about or anything that I will remember after today. I really hope their next projects have better script than this.

Overall, this was a good-looking drama with very little to say. It wanted to be edgy, dark, and with morally grey dynamics but it didn't translate on the screen. I will not recommend this but if you really want to watch it for the leads, please keep in mind the messy plot and lakorn-level drama.
Do not go in expecting to look for substance, tension, or character-driven storytelling.

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