Brave attempt to create a romantic horror BL drama that failed
I’m going to preface my review with the warning for people who are simply fans of PoohPavel because they look cute together on screen and off screen.
I don’t watch dramas just to have something in the background while I’m doing something else. I watch fully engrossed in every detail because I also write and I’m always looking for fresh ideas or interesting delivery methods. And of course, I also watch to get away from real life. The drama has to be entertaining for me to like it. And I consider it entertaining if I have to go to sleep or do some adulting, and instead I keep on watching TV.
Sadly, Goddess Bless You From Death did not deliver. Perhaps I set my expectations way too high after seeing a trailer and then seeing the ratings.
I honestly only saw this duo in PitBabe when it came out, and I never watched the second season because I remember not being overly into it. I saw too many really good BL dramas to remember their acting in PB.
Let’s start from the beginning.
The drama had an interesting and promising premise and I was waiting for things to happen, but everything was just unveiling very slow and there wasn’t anything particular engaging happening on screen.
The bones were there, but the execution and the writing wasn’t very good. I think writing, specifically character interaction and dialogues were poor and sometimes cringey.
The supernatural concept was quite interesting but again all logic was just ignored in most on screen scenarios.
Let’s move on to the romance part.
Again, considering the premise given to us, so much could have been done with Thup and Singha’s a relationship development. Instead, we just have Thup insert himself into Singha’s house and do a couple of chores and that basically turns them into a couple. Angst and real conflict were lacking. Considering we had a policeman and a witness/a person of interest crossing the line, there was so much potential for more. It just felt like a very lazy writing. As if someone said ‘OK, we have a lot of supernatural and freaky stuff, so we don’t really need to make romance interesting.’
There were only two interesting moments between the lead couple, counting the first meeting and the first kiss.
As far as chemistry goes, Pooh and Pavel actually do pretty well. Despite some very abhorrent acting for the most portion of the drama, the intimate scenes seem very natural, which I appreciate. I’ve seen some dramas with amazing acting, but when it came to intimate scenes, acting was immediately downgraded. Also, if you’re going into this show because you have seen this duo in PitBabe, do not expect the same kind of steam. This show is rated 13+ which kind of baffled me a little bit when I started watching, but once we got to the intimate moments, I realized why it was rated like this. The chemistry is there, but this is not the show that concentrates too much on physical relationship between the characters. Which can be a breath of fresh air, if you are looking for less steam and more plot.
Unfortunately, while the plot was not bad, I still found myself constantly taking breaks. At some point watching the drama felt like a chore. I wanted it to be over with so I could watch the next one. Mostly I kept on watching because the rating is extremely high and I wanted to see why. I still haven’t found the answer to this question after watching all 13 episodes.
Now let’s talk a little bit about the acting. As I’ve mentioned earlier, it’s been a while since I’ve seen PitBabe. But I feel almost as if Pooh’s acting has gotten worse. I saw some comments online where fans were defending him because he’s too young. I’m sorry but too young is not an excuse. If you want to be a professional actor, you need to work on your craft. And if you have 3 major dramas under your belt, you need to be somewhat capable. No one‘s asking for Oscar worthy acting chops, but I expect decent skill from someone with such a huge fandom and a drama rated above 8.5.
I think Pavel’s acting was fine. I didn’t find anything distracting. However, Pooh really needs to work on his facial expressions and micro expressions. In half of the situations where he is supposed to convey a specific feeling, he just smiles. At some point, it becomes distracting because that’s his reaction to pretty much anything. And you start wondering if he’s playing a character on spectrum.
And I’m not sure why no one is directing him because he does certain scenes where he needs to express anger or sadness really well. His kissing scenes are also fine, but some of the other reactions he just cannot pull off. I’m honestly hoping this is just poor directing because if the show they have announced just recently where he’ll play Grim Reaper is going to have the same expression on his face, I’m not going to watch anymore dramas from this duo.
I also want to note that I am not bashing the actors in any way. I think it’s admirable that they are pursuing their dreams and that they are not afraid to place themselves in such a niche sector of TV dramas.
However, my expectation is that if you are picked up for a leading role again, I want acting thats’s believable or passable at the very least. Regardless of my thoughts, I still respect the actors and I hope they do well, even if what I saw did not appeal to me. I’m not a spiteful person. If something is not up to my liking doesn’t mean that people should not be acting.
Finally, I want to comment on the subtitle translation. I think confusing pronouns ‘he’ and ‘she’ is nearly impossible. I first noticed the incorrect translation when Sey referred to Darin as she/her. I had to pause and rewind to make sure I wasn’t wrong because the first two episodes the pronounced were ‘he’. Then they were switched to ‘she’ at some point. I couldn’t recollect if it had been mentioned anywhere in the first couple of episode about Darin being trans. But then I started noticing that this was pretty much a common mistake throughout the entire show. Some of the police officers were referred as ‘he’ for eight episodes and then they would become a ‘she.’
It’s not a big deal. I figured this was just a mistake, but it was confusing, especially in light of this being LGBTQ+ show. Getting everyone’s pronouns and gender identity is important to me. It helps to understand the character better. And it’s just general respect.
Overall, Goddess Bless You From Death was indeed a valiant attempt to create a different kind of BL, but unfortunately, it just wasn’t interesting enough for me. The characters were not compelling enough. The writing, specifically dialogues, were not very well done. The romance was kind of subpar. And Pooh needs to work on his acting more.
The rating for the show is kinda inflated in my opinion. Some people may like it. Because apparently a lot already do judging by the reviews, but I have seen much better dramas with lower rating. I think the quality is not quite there.
One thing I really loved about this drama though is the music. There are two gorgeous tracks performed by Pooh and Pavel. I added them to my playlist.
I’m crossing my fingers their next drama is an improvement.
I don’t watch dramas just to have something in the background while I’m doing something else. I watch fully engrossed in every detail because I also write and I’m always looking for fresh ideas or interesting delivery methods. And of course, I also watch to get away from real life. The drama has to be entertaining for me to like it. And I consider it entertaining if I have to go to sleep or do some adulting, and instead I keep on watching TV.
Sadly, Goddess Bless You From Death did not deliver. Perhaps I set my expectations way too high after seeing a trailer and then seeing the ratings.
I honestly only saw this duo in PitBabe when it came out, and I never watched the second season because I remember not being overly into it. I saw too many really good BL dramas to remember their acting in PB.
Let’s start from the beginning.
The drama had an interesting and promising premise and I was waiting for things to happen, but everything was just unveiling very slow and there wasn’t anything particular engaging happening on screen.
The bones were there, but the execution and the writing wasn’t very good. I think writing, specifically character interaction and dialogues were poor and sometimes cringey.
The supernatural concept was quite interesting but again all logic was just ignored in most on screen scenarios.
Let’s move on to the romance part.
Again, considering the premise given to us, so much could have been done with Thup and Singha’s a relationship development. Instead, we just have Thup insert himself into Singha’s house and do a couple of chores and that basically turns them into a couple. Angst and real conflict were lacking. Considering we had a policeman and a witness/a person of interest crossing the line, there was so much potential for more. It just felt like a very lazy writing. As if someone said ‘OK, we have a lot of supernatural and freaky stuff, so we don’t really need to make romance interesting.’
There were only two interesting moments between the lead couple, counting the first meeting and the first kiss.
As far as chemistry goes, Pooh and Pavel actually do pretty well. Despite some very abhorrent acting for the most portion of the drama, the intimate scenes seem very natural, which I appreciate. I’ve seen some dramas with amazing acting, but when it came to intimate scenes, acting was immediately downgraded. Also, if you’re going into this show because you have seen this duo in PitBabe, do not expect the same kind of steam. This show is rated 13+ which kind of baffled me a little bit when I started watching, but once we got to the intimate moments, I realized why it was rated like this. The chemistry is there, but this is not the show that concentrates too much on physical relationship between the characters. Which can be a breath of fresh air, if you are looking for less steam and more plot.
Unfortunately, while the plot was not bad, I still found myself constantly taking breaks. At some point watching the drama felt like a chore. I wanted it to be over with so I could watch the next one. Mostly I kept on watching because the rating is extremely high and I wanted to see why. I still haven’t found the answer to this question after watching all 13 episodes.
Now let’s talk a little bit about the acting. As I’ve mentioned earlier, it’s been a while since I’ve seen PitBabe. But I feel almost as if Pooh’s acting has gotten worse. I saw some comments online where fans were defending him because he’s too young. I’m sorry but too young is not an excuse. If you want to be a professional actor, you need to work on your craft. And if you have 3 major dramas under your belt, you need to be somewhat capable. No one‘s asking for Oscar worthy acting chops, but I expect decent skill from someone with such a huge fandom and a drama rated above 8.5.
I think Pavel’s acting was fine. I didn’t find anything distracting. However, Pooh really needs to work on his facial expressions and micro expressions. In half of the situations where he is supposed to convey a specific feeling, he just smiles. At some point, it becomes distracting because that’s his reaction to pretty much anything. And you start wondering if he’s playing a character on spectrum.
And I’m not sure why no one is directing him because he does certain scenes where he needs to express anger or sadness really well. His kissing scenes are also fine, but some of the other reactions he just cannot pull off. I’m honestly hoping this is just poor directing because if the show they have announced just recently where he’ll play Grim Reaper is going to have the same expression on his face, I’m not going to watch anymore dramas from this duo.
I also want to note that I am not bashing the actors in any way. I think it’s admirable that they are pursuing their dreams and that they are not afraid to place themselves in such a niche sector of TV dramas.
However, my expectation is that if you are picked up for a leading role again, I want acting thats’s believable or passable at the very least. Regardless of my thoughts, I still respect the actors and I hope they do well, even if what I saw did not appeal to me. I’m not a spiteful person. If something is not up to my liking doesn’t mean that people should not be acting.
Finally, I want to comment on the subtitle translation. I think confusing pronouns ‘he’ and ‘she’ is nearly impossible. I first noticed the incorrect translation when Sey referred to Darin as she/her. I had to pause and rewind to make sure I wasn’t wrong because the first two episodes the pronounced were ‘he’. Then they were switched to ‘she’ at some point. I couldn’t recollect if it had been mentioned anywhere in the first couple of episode about Darin being trans. But then I started noticing that this was pretty much a common mistake throughout the entire show. Some of the police officers were referred as ‘he’ for eight episodes and then they would become a ‘she.’
It’s not a big deal. I figured this was just a mistake, but it was confusing, especially in light of this being LGBTQ+ show. Getting everyone’s pronouns and gender identity is important to me. It helps to understand the character better. And it’s just general respect.
Overall, Goddess Bless You From Death was indeed a valiant attempt to create a different kind of BL, but unfortunately, it just wasn’t interesting enough for me. The characters were not compelling enough. The writing, specifically dialogues, were not very well done. The romance was kind of subpar. And Pooh needs to work on his acting more.
The rating for the show is kinda inflated in my opinion. Some people may like it. Because apparently a lot already do judging by the reviews, but I have seen much better dramas with lower rating. I think the quality is not quite there.
One thing I really loved about this drama though is the music. There are two gorgeous tracks performed by Pooh and Pavel. I added them to my playlist.
I’m crossing my fingers their next drama is an improvement.
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