07222023

Manner of Death bored me to death

The beginning was promising and as a crime/thriller fan, I was truly looking forward to this series. I tried not to set my standards too high as it's a Thai series, however, it still fell short. Nothing against Thai series, I just don't believe crime/thriller is their strong suit though it could be because I've been watching meh-tier projects. Or I'm dumb and can't comprehend what they're trying to convey to their audience.
Their surface ideas are always fascinating but deliveries never live up to said ideas. After episode 3, I watched the rest on 2x out of obligation and to see who the murderer(s) is/are. Can't say I was surprised. Thai series tend to lean towards shock value and that's usually when everything falls apart. And I'm not even going to discuss the romance between our leads Bun and Tan because wtf. Halfway through the series, I found myself saying 'huh?' and 'what?' a lot. A lot of it made little to no sense. The timeline was unclear and why was everything 10 years ago?? The acting was decent, I don't remember much of the music... I thought Bun scoffed too much, it was almost every other two lines, or at least felt like it. Tan was alright, kind of unmemorable, he wasn't my favorite character so I didn't give him much thought. I liked That and Sorawit but only as friends, brothers, or partners in crime. My favorite character has to be the hacker guy.

Some of the more glaring parts that didn't make sense:
- Inspector M believes Tan killed Tan's relative-close-like brother Pued out of pure jealousy. I mean, possible so whatever, but then he went on to accuse Tan of and these are his words "cruelly locked him [Pued] up." I'm sorry, Inspector M, but what clean place with nice big open windows suggests that he was 'cruelly' locked up? Not only that, Pued was wearing nice, ordinary clothes. In what galaxy is a kidnapped hostage given clean clothes and good, normal living conditions with no locks or bars? And then Bun went on to say that the place was in the middle of the woods so how could anyone hear anything? Bro, did you not see all the open windows and other houses that were within 20 steps of it? It's not like the shack was in the middle of nowhere, it had an open view with walkways and houses around it??
- So Por sent his men to kill Tan but when Inspector M confronted him on the same day (hours later) he explained it as his men possibly having an issue with Tan that he wasn't aware of. In what genres do minions ever go out of their way to try to kill their boss' sibling and aren't punished for it? Not only was this a horrible excuse, but when Inspector M asked to talk to Tan, Por essentially said 'You can't, I sent him on a work trip and he won't be back for a month' and Inspector M bought his story??? So you're telling me, Big Boss' minions tried to kill Boss' brother between 1-2 AM and say 7-10 AM that same day Big Boss sends the same little bro on a business trip? Huh? Make it make sense.
- The police claimed to have shot Tan because he shot the 'hostage Dr. Bun' and resisted arrest. Crime fanatics know if there aren't bodies, there are usually no deaths. Still, the police ignorantly settled on 'Oh the two bodies must have been carried off within minutes/hours' but if you looked at the body of water, it appeared to be more of a large lake or at least the water was still for the most part...? Next thing we know the police show up at the hospital, a very public place, to arrest Dr. Bun - the man they referred to as the 'dead hostage' to the media. What on earth, why? I mean, we know why, but why in public? Anyway, putting their dumb plan aside, what crime were they going to arrest him for exactly? Surviving? Deceiving??
- The part where Pued and Rung were discussing the 'plan' for Bun was a little murky. As far as we know Rung had no real plan for Bun? Unless we're talking about the threatening, blackmailing, and scaring Bun into dropping Jane's case as Rung was also the one who told Pued where to hide?
- Tan cuffing Bun to the staircase and then leaving him with no food, water, or even his phone to take care of a risky situation was not only dopey but shortsighted. What if he never came back? Bun would have died as he never bothered to find a way to free himself. I literally screamed 'kick/break the wooden stick' every time he was on screen lol. What's dopier is Bun was not a little bit angry or annoyed about getting cuffed for hours. I mean, even the nicest man would have something to say about it? Also what person who isn't a cop goes around carrying and has cuffs on the go? Are we supposed to believe it was premeditated? Tan's shortsightedness?

I liked that this series tackled dark and real themes such as human trafficking, drugs, offenses against minors, and murder (reason #1 I'm giving it more than 5 stars) but when people started dropping like flies and no one really gave af, it became silly and absurd. Initially, Bun would be surprised and shocked to see his acquaintances' lifeless bodies but at one point he seemed numbed and emotionless. Out of sight, out of mind, I suppose. The way he thought of Pued as a close friend but still made a ludicrous comment about Pued being a ghost was odd. And I don't understand why Tan turns serious junctures into flirty, obnoxious moments. The sex scene came out of nowhere and it wasn't a pleasant surprise (seriously skipped it). I wasn't sure if it was the adrenaline rush from them breaking into Inspector M's truck and stealing the laptop or what but I was not expecting sex after committing a crime when I thought discovering the content inside the laptop was first priority.

Speaking of priority, I believe that's what's killed the series for me. The characters' priorities were inconsistent and all over the place. Bad guys suddenly became good and good guys are hidden bad guys. Call it twists if you will but Idunno I didn't feel that our protagonists were desperate enough to get to the bottom of all the murders and mysteries happening around them.

And this is just me nitpicking but why do whenever these characters drive, they can never keep the steering wheel straight? All those little weavings aren't good for your car sir!

On a positive note, I highly enjoyed the last two episodes where they showed us what Rung really did to Jane. Not sure how I feel about Pued's first reaction being to film it but at least it counted as evidence in the long run. Rung and Jane had a nice sisterly-loving relationship; Jane having her sister's birthday as her password was sadly beautiful so when Rung threw their sisterhood away for her greed it was very heartbreaking. I feel horrible for Jane. I don't think she truly got her justice but at least some of her offenders were charged for multiple crimes against multiple victims.

All in all, it wasn't the worst but wasn't the best series. I would recommend it to those who are into shows with multiple villains and plot twists but I myself wouldn't re-watch the entire serie.

Read More

Discovered this film/series since early 2010s and have watched it thrice a year!

I've been in love with this film/series for years and have always seen it at least thrice a year. I can't name one bad thing about it. The action is excellent and fire. The cast is fantastic, including all the extras! Usually, extras don't try since they figure they won't appear on screen but that didn't happen in Crow Zero. Every extra looked like he/she belonged! I can't praise this film/series enough. Even after all this time, I never found it cringy or that I needed to skip parts. I always sit through the whole film like it's my first time. Crow Zero to this day, 10+ years later, is still one of my all-time favorite films.

Read More

Of the 13 Thai BLs I have completed, YinWar had the best chemistry

I want to say I loved and hated this series. I loved the leads' chemistry, the dynamic friend group made up of seniors and juniors' engineers, the unpredictability, the comedy, and the randomness. But what I hate most are the two jarring offenses right from the jump.

Immediately, one of our leads, Vee, cheats on his girlfriend by having s*x with a junior, Mark, who's so drunk out of his mind that he mistakes Vee for Vee's friend. So right away Vee not only cheated but took advantage of another student, for what reason? None... Or I suppose he just wanted s*x that night and it didn't matter if it was with his gf or anyone who'll drunkenly 'beg' him for it. What I haven't seen many mention is how Vee never once, throughout all 10 episodes, admitted or acknowledged that he, too, cheated on his girlfriend on 3-5 different occasions! Yes, he didn't give her crap when she cheated but he never said it out loud to anyone or even himself. So we can't gauge if he considered himself a cheater or not. Although the show tried to justify cheating with cheating, what they did do a good job of is making you forget Vee cheated on his girl. Then they included a whole segment where Mark tortured Vee to the point where you feel bad and sorry for Vee (it was the only time in the series where I cried lol).

The show also did a good job telling us idiot Vee was going to put Mark through hell per random fortune teller at the market. And every time Vee did something dumb, I always, while rolling my eyes, tied it to the fortune teller lol.

What the show didn't do a good job of is the series title. I found myself asking 'What on earth is YinWar's drama called again?' so many times. The engineering/mechanic part is like 15% of the series give or take. The characters said 'engineer(ing)' more than we actually got to see them doing engineering-related stuff.

If you can get over the cheating, nonconsensual sex, and cringe-acting at random moments then trust me, you're in for a really good time. War/Mark's puppy face guarantees it.

Usually, friend groups are a hit or miss in these BLs (esp large groups) and although I can only remember Bar, Kan, Yiwaa, Nuea, and Fuse's names, I enjoyed all of their moments. I was weak with the comedy timing from both parties: seniors and juniors. I liked that the seniors were protective, responsible (taking drunk friends home after a crazy night, addressing and pushing Vee to face his demon), had lives outside of uni, and took on leadership roles. Although the comedy duo in Vee's group doesn't make convincing engineering students their singing, dancing, and chemistry made them a great addition. I have to say Nuea pursuing Mark, and Yiwaa trying to couple them up was a bit aggravating but I get it. I'd want Mark for myself too or at least make sure he's loved and well taken care of. I do question how Nuea got out of Mark's room that night though. He just sort of faded and was replaced by Kan and no one ever mentioned it again lol
As for Mark's friends, I liked that they all had their quirks. Such as watching anime, eating everyone's leftovers (I was getting tired of seeing food go to waste in Thai BLs lol), loves napping, like checking out girls, and Fuse who actually tried to keep everyone focus and on track with their schoolwork.

Like every show, this one has its ups and downs but the cast's chemistry really drove this series for me and evidently, I forgave everything it ever did wrong. I'm even hoping time passes by faster so I can go back and rewatch this and relive all of its chaos and glory!

Read More

Easy to watch but doesn't mean it was flawless

Right off the bat a lot of the story didn't make sense but somehow from episodes 1-9, I found it super easy to watch. Mostly because there was more 'telling' than showing so conflicts, emotions, etc. moved at a quick pace. Episodes 10-12 became extremely hard to watch and took me four days to complete. Despite it being nice and easy to watch, the show had many, many flaws. But I'll only list the four biggest ones otherwise I'd be here all day.

1. The setting; a public high school for rich kids or kids whose parents have good connections. Wtf
2. The characters are supposedly high school seniors, 18/19, but act like uni dropouts. For instance, underage drinking wasn't considered an issue as there were multiple drinking scenes
3. The leads' relationships with their parents fell far from reality. Towards the end, Palm talks about how his mother was dead and he had this questionable(?) smile on his face. I swear if there weren't English subs, I would have thought he was talking about how nice the weather was. I understand that the hospital was far away, but Palm made no effort whatsoever to save his mother and just abruptly declared that she was dead. That would be understandable if we saw him check for a pulse, or listen for any breathing or a heartbeat but we saw none of that and he did none of that. Instead, he screamed 'mom' 10 times and shook her arm a few times and somehow the show believes that's good enough to convince us this 18/19 y.o. knows when a human being who's just been shot is really dead?? Okay, Dr. Teenager.
4. Why did a French and Chinese gay couple decide Thailand was the perfect place to get married when it's not legal in the first place...?

Finally. Rather than saying 'Yay everything's been resolved, let's overwhelm our audience with happy love scenes from our leads' the show took that 'No we need a separation to show that the leads really do love each other but just didn't think they were good enough together' route. That might have been fine but the leads were literally separated in the final episode for a little over 10 minutes, not to mention during those 10 minutes, they played a 2-minute and 20-ish seconds flashback of Diao and Palm together! It didn't feel like they were separated, it felt like they had made plans for an island getaway but Diao had to delay his flight a day or two for some last-minute business meeting. Unlike its strong opening, it had a weak ending. A lot of their conversations at the end also fell flat and contradicted a lot of what they said and did in previous episodes.

Read More

It didn't feel like I was watching a fully thought out show

I recently discovered Boun and Prem and wanted to see more of them as leads, unfortunately, the two series I've seen of them aren't must-watch. This show had an intriguing plot but its execution was all over the place. I don't understand the need for four couples in six episodes. We literally got over two minutes of Sun cleaning up a room when that time could have contributed to exploring Sun and Thai's rivalry or Sun and Mek keeping each other up to date over the phone about their work. Sun's phone call with his dad did not need to be as long as it was. I understand it was going for comedy but because it was prolonged, it became boring and cringe. Honestly, the boxing arc felt so out of place, it might have been fine if it wasn't taking so much screen time from Athit and Sun's storyline but it did and I found myself skipping a lot of it despite appreciating boxing films and games. Mangkorn and Ashing's story should have been a spin-off or "Even Sun" should have had more episodes.

It's odd that Athit and Sun's dads are best friends and close enough to lend and borrow 10 million baht yet Athit and Sun never knew that fact and only met once before Athit moved away. Sun's dad being the reason Athit's dad had a stroke/heart attack was so random and incoherent. If Boun and Prem weren't the leads, I wouldn't have given this show a chance or anything higher than a 5.

Read More

Ploy's Yearbook is a bad fanfic come to life

Ploy's Yearbook hit all the cliches of bad fanfics.

I’ve only seen 7 episodes and was going to wait and finish to give my review but if all of the couples are going to resolve their problems in a similar fashion then it’s pointless.

I had zero tolerance for this series; the more I forced myself to sit through their ‘reasonings’ the more I wanted to pull out my hair. Even at 5x speed, this series doesn’t get any easier to watch. My biggest issue is I had high expectations for this show because of the talented cast and new pairings but it was a big bust.

Let's pretend it makes sense that none of the 10 mains cared or noticed that the phone numbers were incorrect after 10 years, it doesn't make sense to blame ONE Ploy for it when all of them worked on it. This series makes less and less sense the more I watch it.

How did Mek, who was tutoring Pretty Ploy not have her number? Why didn’t Kram have Prof’s number when they’ve lived together for a while?? It’s funny that the Yearbook is more of a phonebook. How can all these supposedly close peers not have each other’s numbers after 3-4 years? If this was my friend group, I’d rather not have friends.

I love the actors but not the characters. They’re all poorly written in stupid ways. What’s worse is this is a character-driven series and when the characters suck, there’s very little hope for the overall show. This series is simply a side project for these well-known actors to do in between large projects. I’ve never seen good and decent actors perform more badly. Bunch of robots. Even the actors seemed bored in the Behinds. Whoever wrote and directed this had no grasp of who and how the characters should be. The characters’ emotions do not fit the weight of the situation. Despite their different backgrounds and characteristics, they all share the same level of lower intelligence. All of Kram’s decisions up to episode 7 make sense if this was a bad fanfic. Prof Ploy is praised as the smartest because otherwise, she wouldn’t have chosen such a heroic man–she’s yet to impress me with her higher intelligence. The characters’ dialogue is middle-school level at best.
Don’t get me started on Prof bragging about manipulating Kram into marrying her and then acting like the victim when she, not him, SHE thought he didn’t agree to it out of love. Seriously! Someone, please shoot me (side rant: Why did Mek casually grab and deliver the drinks for them as if they’ve just magically appeared and no one might have left them after eavesdropping? Is Mek really the nerd?).

I don’t understand how the show’s biggest attraction is to have a group of adults in their late 20s, early 30s blame and rely on one woman to fix their lives. Lives that don’t need fixing. Except for the lack of a lover, the characters are well off and have time to socialize and hang out with old high school acquaintances. It’s even more cringy that they are counting on Prez Ploy to fix their LOVE lives.

Istg this series was trying to set the record for the most pointless flashbacks. Sadly it backlashed more than anything as the flashbacks exposed the inconsistency of high school and were only used to support moments in the present. As the series’ flashbacks progressed, characters that didn’t hang out in high school suddenly did, and characters that weren’t close suddenly were.

I’ve always loathed it when GMM brings in guns and/or action. They need to hire action choreographers because their action scenes are way too unserious. Takes me out of the moment.

The only way for me to complete this series is if someone were to put a gun to my head. As much as I love the actors, I cannot put up with lackluster writing and horrible execution. If the creative team in charge of this series doesn’t care then why should I?

Overall score was a 4 but I'm taking out .5 pts for Prof and Kram testing my sanity. And Thap needs to get over it or get out of Prez's life.

Read More

Couldn't watch past episode 3

Everything was a hot mess. Nothing made analytical sense. The lead characters are offputting and pretentious. I for one cannot stand the main character, Yai, who exercises poor judgment after poor judgment and isn't charming or likable enough to get a pass. The way he handled seeing another guy being slightly interested in the same woman as him is criminal. This guy recorded a rape tape on a camcorder but thought it could ONLY be found on someone else's phone is not only dumb but not how that works. Yet, for some multitude of reasons he is obsessed with getting his hands on the other main character, Mangkorn's phone, and then proceeded to explain every detail of what we saw him do to this guy's phone to him. Do we care? No. Does Mangkorn love his phone that much that he'll care how you destroyed it? No. And for some reason, Mangkorn found Yai's stupidity so hot that he pulled the latter into the next room to ask for consensual sex. Except he didn't care for an answer and demanded that Yai do as he said anyway. Completely and utterly pointless. I ended the show there.

I don't mind dark and flawed protagonists, but I can't stand dark, flawed, and dumb protagonists.

I understand that when a parent introduces his/her new significant other to you it can be uncomfortable but not when said parent has spoiled you rotten and is giving you their most beloved bar to renovate and run. Not to mention this was a working parent who was only home at least 5 times a year. Yai throwing a tantrum over "family" lunch after his dad flew into town because there may be a potential stepmother was so uncalled for. I'd understand his mixed emotions if he was 12 or 14 but the guy is grown enough for BDSM. Let your hardworking dad be happy, my guy.

The opening and ending song is the only thing I liked about the show

Read More

Dirty Laundry was about airing the dirty laundry but in a ridiculous and comical way

A friend recommended this and I'm glad she did. My throat and stomach hurt so much from laughing. Truth be told when I saw that Film was the heroine, I was skeptical because I was first introduced to her through 'Home School' and she was such a serious character there. I have to say an unserious character really suits her and her duality is insane. She's stunning even when she's making all kinds of funny faces. This is my fifth or sixth series with Nanon and boy has never disappointed. He's always got great chemistry with his counterparts but he and Film are the perfect couple for 'Dirty Laundry'.

All the characters did amazing but I'm beyond impressed with Pond. He did so well and gave me so many laughs. Never in a hundred years did I imagine I'd get to see Nanon pinching his nipples and not once but thrice. I love the diversity of the supporting characters; they were very well-written and were committed to their parts. I admire that they didn't try to look nice and pretty and just went bat crazy with their roles. I bet it was an extremely fun set to be at.

Of course, the story wasn't perfect and there were some plotholes but overall it's extremely funny, smart, and memorable. I admire that despite its ludicrousness, it stayed true to reality and morality. The balance of romance, comedy, and tension was spot on. This is definitely a rewatch and my third highest rating yet!

Read More

Semantic Error was...an error

As a long time fan of Park Seoham and KNK, and is also familiar with DKZ, I’m sad to say that this was lukewarm at best. The acting was cringey at times; perhaps not being able to take Seoham seriously is a personal issue knowing he’s such a goofball, but at times it looked like he was holding back laughter or trying too hard to be cool. Much of the acting, like some kdramas, feel unnatural or very 2D. I couldn’t feel the romance, let alone bromance. The bantering was adorable at times but ‘gotcha’ moments weren’t hitting as they should be.

The story, overall, isn’t too messy but it felt slow and draggy for an 8-episodes-25 minutes-each series. The timeline wasn’t the clearest. Did they fall in love within two weeks? But Sangwoo’s birthday is in October? Jaeyoung leaving for France in the middle of the semester? So he won’t be graduating again? I’m confused.

I’m a big fan of Yuna, Jaeyoung’s female friend. Her character is so fun, calm, and badass. If she gets together with Jihye, I think they’ll make a cuter couple than Jaeyoung and Sangwoo. Originally, Jihye seemed like an innocent girl with little confidence, but she turned out stronger than I thought. Her straightforwardness would go well with Yuna’s relaxed attitude. And whatever happened to Hyeongtaek’s confession lol?

I don’t have a lot to say as nothing really happens but I do like the cast, the music, and the storyline of game designing. I did wish they used and had a wider range of music but that’s creative differences so--

Read More

My Personal Weatherman was more personal than I thought

So I waited for this series to finish airing to finally binge it and I have to say, dark as it got, I enjoyed My Personal Weatherman immensely. I’m both pleased and shocked to see that the directors and screenwriters are all women! I will touch on this later~

Right from the get-go you have to expect toxicity; your leads are walking examples of a typical traditional man of the house and housewife. No one likes a tyrant and I’m not one for extreme conservative practices, but when the show spoon-fed us the characters’ weaknesses and flaws 2-4 episodes in, we can’t expect significant growth. Especially in 8 episodes each ranging 20 minutes and the production team choosing to overkill with repetitive flashbacks. Either way, I can’t say that I’m all that disappointed, I also tried to be more flexible as this is a slice of life.

This is my second Japanese BL in 10+ years, the first one being the Takumi-kun series, and this one really brought back a lot of nostalgic memories for me. It reminded me of how beautiful and well-written Japanese films are, especially when it comes to slice-of-life and romance!

I adore the cast here, they had great chemistry and each character is so different in his/her own way.
Higuchi Kouhei is such a delight to watch. He had a lot of range in his expressions and body control, and he’s just drop-dead gorgeous! That hairstyle, someone please give his stylist a raise! Originally, I wasn’t impressed with Segasaki but considering who he hung out with in university, the saying ‘show me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are’ really fits him! Mizuki is an overachiever who sees himself as superior not because of his appearance, achievements, or popularity but his abilities. He’s confident, highly intelligent, and dogmatic. It’s clear that Mizuki cares for Yoh but Yoh’s denseness makes it difficult for them to be on the same page and transition their relationship into that of a more romantic one. Yoh’s slowness was also something Mizuki initially liked until the final episode where he seemed annoyed by it twice.
Mashiko Atsuki did an introvert justice. Yoh is a seemingly darker and gloomy character who concentrates on the negatives; since he’s cooped up at home and has more internal monologue and inner thoughts, he’s consistently doubtful and has the tendency to build up people’s persona in his head. While we see Mizuki applying and taking his meteorologist knowledge and career seriously, Yoh doesn’t seem to have the same passion for his mangas. Then again, if he has to cook and clean all day every day, he’s probably got writer’s block. I wished their little outing inspired something in him other than ‘bed sheets’ :/ I mean it was cute, but it wasn’t cute.
Manju is sooooo adorably funny! I had so much fun whenever she was on screen! Yoh is NOT the good friend she needs and deserves but if she’s happy helping him then girly do you!
Manju’s husband, Atsuya, was interestingly fun. You can tell he’s used to Manju’s quirks and shenanigans in the way that he reacts and supports her.

I like that the show touched on some stereotypes and modern issues such as women saying the opposite of what they want/feel (Yoh) and the wives' jobs don't matter to today’s husbands (Mizuki to Yoh). That being said, given that the directors and screenwriters are women, I wanted to see these two conflicts play out but oddly yet not surprisingly enough, there were no follow-ups. Aside from the problematic theme, on multiple occasions, the conflicts were either never resolved or forgotten. Nothing ever came of Mizuki and Yoh wishing they’d happily smile at each other as they do to other people; please don’t tell me the ending at the dining table was an implication of that. Yoh lying about working with Manju because he’s afraid Mizuki would judge them was unnecessary as Mizuki hasn’t struck us as an unreasonable character – lustful, possessive, and condescending yes but not entirely unreasonable. How hard is it to tell Mizuki that ‘glasses guy’ is Manju’s husband? And Mizuki, knowing that Manju has a husband never put two and two together? Why not? Communication between Mizuki and Yoh started off fine (for roomies who sleep together) until we got to them being jealous and possessive of each other. I hate to believe it but that may be the show’s way of telling us that Mizuki and Yoh were ‘falling in love’ after living and sleeping together for four years. The show would be a perfect 10 had they just replaced at least two sex scenes with serious conversations between the leads but no :/

I’m definitely rewatching for Higuchi Kouhei’s smugs, though Mizuki needs to take a hint, 'no means no' and 'stop! he's drunk!'!

Read More