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Don't skip Season 3... Ask for 4-10!:-)
Well, the beginning premise is NOT promising. The super-goodlooking cast is gone. Funny decision to make previous seasons weirdos & losers the new leads might dissuade some from even watching...But, if you do watch, you'll find the Third season is not bad: it's not bad AT ALL. Might even be best of the three.
The opening credits do not fail to re-vamp the music theme yet again along with the most dramatic-looking scenes (as usual, way more dramatic LOOKING than they then actually are) and each episode ends exactly at the most poignant moment or highest peak: yet again you can say 'Hormones' are best at the beginning and the end.
But given the characters are not the closest ones to you while you start watching, you must admit the amount of creative work done was way higher this time, in compare how strongly you feel for them by the end of the episode.
Each episode ends precisely when it should end: if lacking a tiny bit, or being tiny bit longer, it would not work as much.
In the end (when they show you the empty school) you are sorry there are no seasons 4-10:-) You wouldn't even mind if this show would return each season with completely new cast & characters (like british 'SKiNS'): because this style actually never gets you tired.
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A lukewarm "charm"...
She is a resolute hairdresser with versatile looks who can look both attractive or not, depending (ironically enough) on the haircut, and make-up... He is an average guy with average looks (he looks especially horrendous with the perm she makes him wear early on) who has his first kiss with her, which she iniciates, after which he falls DESPERATELY in love with her and cannot forget her even after 10 years or so. When they reunite, they clear the old misunderstandings and she lets the guy know that she really liked him back, too. Which makes him totally happy and they start dating (or dating again), with him acting like a desperate dog most of the time (he is a cop now, so he's only cool in the moments when he's arresting bad guys, etc.) and with her alternating between being annoyed/moved by it.During their "second charm", whenever the hairdresser crosses paths with an attractive guy, it puts a strain on her relationship, because her cop boyfriend gets easily jealous and insecure. She breaks it off with him at one point. When there is nothing, the focus shifts on the secondary characters, but I never cared and skipped all of them.
Basically, nothing major really happens in this drama for more than ten long episodes (as far as I watched), only loads of super sweet romantic song/s keep playing. The drama uses summarizing montages of the previous scenes since early in the story, they come after each minor conclusion, and sometimes before conclusion is reached. It's like someone wanted us to watch MVs of the drama DURING the drama. Often I opened an episode and after watching like six or seven minutes of it, I lost my (mild) interest. I progressed only very slowly.
After the break-up in episode 10, episode 11 consists of us watching mainly the guy alone, and he is not very charismatic. Scenes of him traveling, sleeping, eating, learning to cook (gee, is this going to be a cooking show on the top of everything else I "like"?) create such a lukewarm atmosphere I did not even care that somewhere in the middle of it he got another girlfriend. Episode ends up on a cliffhanger with the hairdresser's return. But I had enough.
I'm not staying for the third charm.
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Seriously, what went wrong with this?
Seriously, what went wrong with this? If I DROP a show AT 18/20, because I can't no longer withstand it, if I wish to fastforward during a TWELVE MINUTE episode, then there's something seriously wrong. This must be officially the worst thing ever done by 'Playlist Global'...At first, I was still riding on the season 1 wave, without noticing that something was wrong. After a few episodes, I found myself browsing through Comments, instead of watching: Stumbled upon one, noting that DoHa was no longer the lead, but support... And realized it was true. It was KimHa who became the new lead, hence the sudden... Boredom?
I don't know how else to describe it, the emptiness. At first, I didn't understand why did DoHa drop the hot guy. He's the almost only male on the cast not looking feminine, and the only one having sexy voice. With her reason being that she "needs more time for herself"? What a cr*p. Exactly what DoHa was NOT about. At least 1st season DoHa... With this couple (more or less) gone, I started to focus on what we actually COULD watch, here. And it was... not much, to say the truth.
There were whole episodes that consisted of pretty much nothing of note. Being short was never a weakness before. This season? Despite adding new characters, somehow it all makes a material that's ENTIRELY skippable. Huh? Seriously, what went wrong with this? Aren't GiHyun & BoRam just as adorable as before? Why am I not enjoying them, at least? I kinda am, but I watch their scenes thinking: I do like these two, just this particular scene, I wouldn't specifically miss it. But I think it EVERY scene. And, in contrast to DoHa, it makes no difference whether KimHa jumps into Min's arms, or rejects Min.
Instead of stretching for 20 episodes, which proved to be unbearable to finish (after watching 12-15 of them, each new episode I literally prayed for ANY kind of ending, just as long as the episode I was currently watching would become FINAL one) this whole season could wrapped itself into one little, disposable ball. Just throw it out and start again from s01 end. Or let it end on it.
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There's enough dated clothes and crazy "acting" in the old versions
(I did give the 2018 version still solid 5.0 so I needed to go even lower, here...) I searched my heart what kind of feeling would describe this version, and perhaps the cultural difference could be only compared to if F4 version was made in Bollywood...? No, that would be FUNNY, at least. This is morelike a LONG product-placement video with models only posing as characters who should be so precious to us.I seriously think now in 2023 young people should have a better version of HYD to watch to appreciate it. If they don't, then there's enough dated clothes & crazy acting in the old ones...
I wasn't particularly looking forward THAI remake of HYD, and to actually watch it, I did postpone it. It has the typical thai "qualities" that go beyond borders of good taste, straight product advertising put right into the scenes, and cast like Bright Vachirawit in the main role... He looked problematic right from the start, because F4 should be group of FRIENDS, and not something else (maybe 'G4 Thailand'?:), so I expected to find his romance with the main girl not very convincing, given that the viewers should inadvertently expect him to fall into each other's arms with Win Metawin any second... Turned out, that was the least of Bright's problems.
This show looks like an ambitious project. It's GMM25, though. I watched ENOUGH of their shows. I wasn't excited. First minutes, I wondered what was it that was wrong with Bright. Oh, they did try to make his hair "curly". I forgot about that Doumyouji trait. It's (once again) not a good attempt, so I'd wish the producers would forget about it, too. Seeing F4's "cool" clothes, again I got reminded that the source material for this show is indeed pretty old:) The main girl's actress is someone completely new. Her looks fill the requirements. She's supposed to be pretty, yet totally ordinary. First thing her character does, she explains in detail how the the school bullying works. Like a game with rules. I realized these things were never said out loud in any previous HYD adaptations. I mean, we always kinda felt it didn't make much sense but now the show was trying to "logically" explain it, the more it actually stood out, lol. I had to laugh even more, seeing Bright's fur coat. Was he warm enough in thai weather? LOL. Again with the gay reminiscence. There's even Pompam Niti on the cast. Tootsie left, tootsie right... Then again, wasn't it gay to call the boys FLOWER four in the first place? So, the 1st gay reference actually goes all the way back to Japan:)
In the scene where main girl's new school friend bumps into main guy and stains him with her food, I actually thought she did him a favour, lol. She drops some spaghetti on his extremely gay shoes (those were sparkling! seriously) and then no matter what way his character reacted, I was distracted by Bright's weird hair and his weird makeup they made him wear. Look at the photos on 'F4 Thailand' official posters, he's almost unrecognizable on some of them. And I DID think his face had personality. What a disaster. He was super handsome in '2gether' compared to this. And back there I thought he was average looker:) Also, that was BL. Now, isn't it an interesting irony, how are guys in STRAIGHT drama way more groomed than the ones in BL? LOL.
Cindy Bishop appears as the main boy's mother. Wow, what a cast. She won a beauty pageant when she was young but I actually like her better now she got older.
I liked the kick scene. It was great and started warming up to this version. I was like: This old story always works:) So many adaptations. There must be something about the extremes which highten emotions on the war field. It's just a perfect playground for all the drama & romance to blossom... So, at that point, I still looked forward episode 2.
Episode 2, it looked like the significantly different thing would be that the mother is here since day 1. She meets Gorya the first day she enters F4's leader's house! But, she just walks past her and they don't really have any confrontation. Bright keeps wearing bad taste, passed-era clothes that make him look like a clown and his face is still distorted with makeup. His character, called Tham (they write it as Thyme, but that's wrong, that's not what everyone really pronounces) is clearly interested in Gorya, also since day 1. Ren has a weak actor and is not dreamy enough. The mafia bad boy looks too feminine and keeps wearing ponytail. Win Metawin makes me feel uneasy watching him with huge 70s glasses which are somehow supposed to make him big playboy. I thought: I need a big dramatic scene again, soon. Else it's mostly about big feeling of WTF...
Instead, there was a funny scene in which the 1st kiss was stolen, LOL. That was always the awkward bit in all previous versions. I liked how they made fun of that.
Epi 3, I realized Bright's acting was a bit forced. It seems he was really constrained by the big role. When scene didn't have the required atmosphere, it used voiceover to support what it was supposed to convey. Voiceovers are always a sign.
As for the modernization of the story. I get the ubiquitous use of media, but I just didn't believe Tham would be left standing on a square ALONE after he broadcasted the time and place to the whole school. Would NONE of his stalking fangirls come? What's a few hours in the rain to THEM. They'd be camping there.
Epi 4: No matter how "classy" this show tries to appear (it uses black letterboxing like a movie) it cannot escape the cheap waters of the obligatory Oishi tea product placement, right into the main story. After that stumble, the main two had their infamous "first date". Which was more or less an accident. Yet it was immediatelly followed by Tham's friends giving warnings against things getting "too serious"...
Epi 5: Win Metawin as an invincible fighter? Please, just keep him as the spoiled pretty-boy, lady-boy. That's at least partially believable. Bright's "acting" is now really becoming a problem. His facial expression when he is supposed to be angry, depressed, sorry... It kinda always looks like he's grinning. WTF?
He really makes the worst Doumyouji. It's everything from his expressions to his manner of speaking. I did not expect much still I did not expect Bright to be THIS bad. And maybe it's not just Bright. I mentioned that HYD offers so many moments of exciting visuals and dramatic settings, that it might seem it's not possible to make a bad series with such strong source material... But it is. And it might happen, here.
Story here seems to follow the japanese 2005/2007 live action version, which was very short. And if this manages to squeeze both seasons into 16 episodes, it will be even shorter.
Episode 6, there's yet more product placement (or plain advertising, morelike) and there's the double date in zoo. There, among the colorful parrots, first time Tham's clothing fits right into the surroundings:) Perhaps his clothes were also inspired by the 18 years old adaptation. Or was it the 22 years old one from Taiwan? Tu wears a head cap. On today's whole planet, she would need to be teleported to China, the only place that one might still be in fashion. Gunsmile assumes the role of the obnoxious boyfriend, as he takes pride in such roles. Other question is whether he's really good at those. This version, Tesla (seriously, that's supposed to be his nickname... Thailand is lucky it's not siginificant country enough for Tesla's descendants to sue this show:) serves morelike as a mirror to Tham, as his looks & behavior basically copy Tham's. It's like Tham had his chance to see how would be able to withstand his own self.
Bright's spastic "acting" continues...
Funny moment is in episode 8, where Tham moves into a house next to Gorya's, to "experience common domestic life". Him watching boran lakorns on television is something you obviously won't find in other countries versions:D There is Tham's birthday party too, in that episode. Cindy Bishop appears, wearing such a cleveage (and the necklace!) like she should straight go continue as MILF in some adult movie. No matter how striking she is, it occurs to me that she is actually ridiculous in this role. Her age doesn't fit, either. She can pass as Bright's mother, but not as Maria Poonlertlarp's.
Episode 9, I was curious which girl would he grab, as I always found it idiotic when he grabbed the wrong one (previous versions do vary, here) and you can guess if this one picked the good option. Yes, it copies the japanese live action alright. I can't even give the "Story" here high rating, because the writers actually do nothing but compile from all previous versions. Which is actually tiresome since the 2009 korean version, let alone today. I must admit I really am tired. And I honestly don't care whatever happens to those people onscreen. Since episode 1, I didn't see anything I would like, and what DOES get repeated is precisely the stuff I found tiring even in the old verisons. Like, there is the new rich girl who is Tham's fiancee and again the main girl gives her her friendship too easily (and does NOT tell her that she dates Tham... ugh, is she going to get cornered into helping her own rival yet again?). Tham hugs Gorya and says he needs to go and do something important, but Bright's volatile facial expressions make the "emotional" scene look comical. The same goes for their "passive-aggressive-fight" scene, where Gorya is supposed to say to Tham that he'd be actually better off with the other girl. The audience should always note that this was her mistake when she told him that, but this version, Bright Vachirawit makes such faces that I don't really care whether she breaks up with him. Gorya says she's tired. Gee, she's tired? I am tired. I was tired with "the latest" version in 2018 already and I have rated it 5.0 perfect average and that was extremely low considering how much I love HYD (it was like 10th adaptation I watched already). But this time, it looks I might even DROP the latest version...? Or should I keep watching for the sake of the whole scenes dedicated to advertising the KFC box?
Episode 10: I started to feel that I am generous to dedicate my time for this. After all, I don't need to find out the "story", I've seen it like eleven times already. There's not a single good actor on the cast, either. Things get lively again in this episode, and there is a scene in which they almost kill Gorya, because thai never know the right measure. Is this supposed do be rated for the audience 13+ years old? We have this, instead of proper kiss scene, which should be due by now (or at least an attempt of it, like in the korean version, lol).
Epi 11: When they capture Gorya in the famous scene where Doumyouji/Tham is supposed to let himself get hurt in her stead, even there comes a modification and it doesn't make sense. The only thing I appreciated was we could see Tham's redemption over his past victims and we could see that his friends said it right: He was inspired by Gorya. Still, no kiss, we get our eyes polished by the KFC box, yet again.
Episode 12: We still did not get to the anticipated 1st kiss (boy, and when I think of the taiwanese version from 2001!!) , yet we got to the stage when Gorya becomes Tham's "personal maid" (which I always thought exceptionally badtaste and I'm not sure if that even was in the original manga) and then Win Metawin and his mega-lips actually beats the main couple to it. Sad, tragic... Now I know, why I was uneasy about his cast from the beginning, LOL.
Episode 13, it seems they can no longer put it off. We get to the same dated side-story about a sunrise on a rooftop & Cindy Bishop returns. Also, KFC box returns. Yay. Tham & Gorya kiss hispanic telenovela style ("Make it big! Make it big!" - yelled the director in the background:) Gee, only 3 episodes left, now.
Episode 14: Tham tries to act like a grown-up: Big LOL. We can see him in office, wearing black tuxedo with sparkles on it (seriously), all this because his mother showed Gorya some cancer pictures which looked like printed from the internet. We watch him having a conversation about his personality change with his sister, which was a scene I couldn't help but burst out laughing. Apart from his clothes, Tham seems to be standing in front of a wall covered with pussy pictograms (known in some countries:) Did they try so hard to communicate THIS to the audience?, LMAO. There's more bad acting from Bright Vachirawit... So, if I laughed at the "wrong" places, you understand my boredom, after all I watched this story more than 10 times already (though, without the KFC box), so forgive me.
Epi 15: Yawn. Still not the final? Without caring much whether Tham stays in his vagina-symbol covered office or leaves it to find Gorya, I'd like to nominate the box from KFC as an alternate F4 member. Still less boring and better acting than most of them . You do understand how I fastforwarded through the whole episode to finally get to KFC scene!
As for the final, I can say positive things about it, like it did come fast enough to spare us more episodes and the obligatory amnesia arch... Oops, not really. They "modernized" that too... With "great" performance on top (our handsome boy Bright tries hard to yell on the top of his lungs to compensate for the acting... after all, at that point of the story Tham is no longer just thick, but actually brain damaged). But, it was just one final hour and then it was over (I still wanted to fastforward all the lame product-placement, or Bright's "english") and I was done with watching and listening, up to the last "wise voiceover" which felt like a chore. You can try and guess whether the "magic" of the LAST SCENE did get broken by yet another blunt KFC advertisement, or had thai tv shown a bit of restraint for ONCE? lol.
OVERALL, this didn't have any rewatch value with moments when would my heart stop. Ending of the 1st episode was closest to it, but this adaptation didn't manage to fully bring it on. So, it might serve just as a starting point for the people who did not know F4, yet. When we're at it, to call the drama bluntly "F4 Thailand" perhaps speaks about it best. But it's NOT enough success that they did film it, that they manage to adapt it in their language & environment, that they manage to "modernize" it and done it: In fact if you decide to get acquainted with the original story, you need to be prepared for the fact it IS dated and that's a part of it's "charm". Flaws or not, watching it should be an experience that somethat stays with you. Not another binge-watch that makes you log on social media to comment and order KFC box. I won't give it significantly low Overall rating because after all, it does have good enough production value and stuff. It's actually MEH more than anything else. Looking back, it's actually the same word I used last time (2018)... I'm afraid time will come at some point when the endless remaking has to stop. If we keep at it for more 100 years, making "less toxic", and then even less toxic version, we'll totally forget what it was actually about. It IS a story of a certain era... Like, you might consider watching an actual old movie, to understand old movies, right?
For all the people gushing about this being the best version. During this review, I also compared this version to this or that. One version was left aside, though. The 1996 ANIME version. Yes, it's animated. It's cartoon. Yet it's the most flesh out, most raw... You might be struggling through watching it, but in the end of the day, that one really is the truest version, the funniest, the sexiest, the most deep... And in the very end, the best version. And you go watch it if you don't believe me. You will believe. It's an amazing experience and a SURPRISE even after a person watched other versions with live acting and got totally obsessed with THEM, in the end most people admit that anime version was the best. So, the viewers who haven't yet watched: You still have something good to look forward to;-))
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And after all...
All that Toni Rakkaen needs to do is just LOOK at his person.
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This review may contain spoilers
The plot is mysterious. As to what sense it all has:-) An average author accidentally creates BL sensation by inserting some hot gay scenes in one of his novels (he actually loves to write fantasy or horror) so his publisher is now pushing him to write such stuff. He is a lonely gay guy of average looks who lives alone so all his dreams and fantasies come alive when this perfectly handsome guy starts living with him and seducing him. Only problem: Why??One thing is the author is actually invited on the shooting set, when they make a BL drama out of his book. He's not even that interested, only lets himself being dragged into it... Kinda makes no sense as we all know on every set, there is a director who wants to direct his vision and there are actors who keep asking him "what is my motivation in this scene?" daily and there is a producer who wants to see return of his money and then there is a scriptwriter who wants to see his script done right and that already is enough annoyance for the director. NO ONE wishes to see the book author on the set, unless it's J.K. Rowling and that is the exception which CONFIRMS the rule.
But our "lovely writer" gets included in the whole production process for some reason (no reason, really) since the casting. Many "pretty boys" come to that casting. One looks girly (perfect cast), one looks "hot" (main cast) and one is actually attractive (side-cast). Now, the "hot main guy" makes a move on the shy book author and tries to impress him since day one. He even moves in with him under some ridiculous excuse. Kisses him after 1 day or so. He keeps smirking when "no one is looking". Only thing left mysterious is what's supposed to be the reason he's trying to seduce the writer so hard. Should't he be rather sucking up to the director?
So much for the unrealistic plot, but what is real... is the kissing!:-) So BL fans, attention. First kiss comes in episode 2 and it's a long, good REAL KISS. Yeah, rare, right? Why this like never happens in any series where would it be REALLY exciting? Here, we are watching the guys snogging before we really know them, and 10 more episodes remain. Will there be some explanation for all this in there somewhere?
Next episode continues with the actor being all over the book author (actually overdoing it quite a bit). It's starting to get boring. The author is really not a looker. The actor behaves like his life or death depends upon seducing him... Then the author gets drunk and goes for it with him but even that doesn't satisfy the actor. Obviously his goal is to really get to him. I would prefer watching the fictional BL drama side-guy getting on with the girly one than these two, but never mind.
I got to smile... 'Coz next epi my wish got fullfilled:-) I mean there was a kiss scene of the two secondary guys in question:-) First it was awkward, the girly guy was really girly, I mean he was carrying a totally girl's handbag, LOL. But I gotta say I did enjoy it because by then I was already tired of the main couple, I didn't really like neither the author nor the actor, so I switched my attention to this couple. Theirs was a hot kiss, preceded by a nasty family scene (turns out this secondary couple actually had way more interesting backstory all along). Emotions were hightened and kissing real. Very well. Even straight dramas (which tend to have way more build up) should be like this. Not just the gay ones in episode 5.
Then episode 6 the connection between the author & actor gets revealed, for their plot to finally have at least slightest sense. Well, better late than later:-) Also it was time for them to beat the drama of the secondary couple (like, the scene of Aey crying on the friend's lap was kinda stealing thunder of any other character in this drama). Episode 7 features author & actor getting all mushy, I completely zoned out and ended up looking outside the screen. My eyes returned when there was a kiss on the bed, but I don't really ship these two.
Anyways then there comes the premiere of the fictional BL (it's called 'Bad Engineer'... my, what can THAT be a referrence to, lol). It's a funny look from the other side where we can see that all it takes is to take a few moderately handsome guys, put them in school uniforms, make them shoot a couple over the top "drama" scenes featuring some kissing and a crowd of screaming fans appears. The book author is present even at this event (I'm no longer commenting on how that's absurd) and sits directly next to the drama "stars". They make those play one scene "live" on stage. It features a few ostentatiously stupid dialogue lines and, of course, a kiss. But that they don't do.
Episode 9... The main couple is fun again:-) And their bed scene is georgeous. Skinship is incomparable with any thai BL I have seen, it's more comparable with us/uk production. Interesting that the series mocking the BL genre would have such good BL scenes itself. If such scenes would happen within stories I really enjoyed, or couples I really shipped, I would have fainted. This is how it should look like. Also family scenes with members disapproving of gay relationships are good here for both couples.
Episode 11 it starts getting dumb. Actor & author's relationship gets revealed to public. Aey is crying in front of his fans on a livestream (makes little sense, there is nothing in between Aey and the actor, at least THIS actor:) and the publisher scolds the author that their sales have dropped. Which is even less believable, we all know any publicity is a publicity, and if not love triangles, then what are all dramas about?:-) Aey keeps crying. Unlike episode 5, for completely unknown reason. Actor & author's relationship is in crisis, which clearly has the "last episode crisis" purpose only. We know it's gonna get solved in the last epi, followed by happy end (just like in any other show this series partially mocked). During final episode I was seriously bored, I nearly fell asleep. Then they tried some goofying towards the very end, I would appreciated it more if they reversed Aey back from playing the silly "nang'rai" and we'd see some continuation on what we watched in episode 5, but never mind.
Now, how to rate series that was so good and so bad? Then, perfect average has to be given.
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Before We Get To Be Lovers
Opening credits are artsy, and... erotic. Full of bedscenes of two people who each are in SERIOUS relationship with someone else. These serious-relationship partners both dutifully create occasions for the two mains to meet, and then conveniently leave them alone. Even other side-characters create situations where the two mains end up alone. It's like the whole universe is pushing them to be together:-) Well, after each episode attacks the viewer with an opening filled with visions of them together in bed, one can understand they had to get there SOMEHOW, lol. But perhaps it would be better if the series started with them already lovers. They had convincing onscreen chemistry together, just the way the writers made them meet and involved was not that convincing.I found it fascinating that they have these karaoke booths on the streets:-) It got me thinking various crazy things which could be made into a street booth:-) During first episodes, I busied myself with thoughts like this more than the actual plot. I already knew who will be getting together with whom, and it was no fun watching the early beginnings, taking step forth and step back, and even having a couple of "break-ups" BEFORE they started sleeping together. Their interactions were more silly than exciting, also it looked like their "feelings" developed out of thin air. As we DID watch them from their first meeting, so we KNEW they did not have much of a hi/story. Had they been lovers since the episode 1, the viewers could use their fantasy to imagine how that happened, which would most probably be better than what we watch here. So, I more or less just waited for them to become REALLY lovers, lol. In the end, that took a more than half of the show. (EDiT: It must have happened so late in the show that I actually didn't get to that part, LOL.) What happened still earlier was they both did properly break up with their long-time partners... and failed to do it. That was also funny. The partners both simply did not accept the break-up. Who does that? I felt like watching some stage play and not real people. Clearly we just HAD TO get the main leads having an affair while both being taken, because that was the plot. But the way the writers were getting to it was dubious.
Watching the opening credits 8 times, with the actual episode NOT matching them was more and more disappointing and I wondered WHEN it will really start. At least 8th episode, there is a scene where the main guy sees the main girl in a VERY sexy wedding dress:-) Meanwhile, she argues with her longtime guy about banalities. He postpones their wedding 6 months and she's angry like such little thing matters. The two of them had everything planned for decades to come. They were both obsessed with planning and lived on their shared financial plan:-) I wouldn't mind it, if the two were cool about it. At the beginning, they looked like cute couple of weirdos who happily found each other. But mere couple episodes later they were all tense. So, I really wished them to better break up. I suspected the writer made this so we would cheer the main girl getting on with the main guy. But I didn't agree with this kind of writing. It's not real drama when the other partner is shown as unsufferable. Real drama is when he is GREAT, and she STILL has an affair with someone else. Same with the main guy and his girl with the dead parents he made promise to. In short, this drama failed in what I expected from it at the basics. It was getting more boring than exciting.
The main two get in bed in epi 9/13, at stage where I no longer found it exciting (he had to "infiltrate" her office, become her new "boss", go to "bussiness trip" with her...) and even that bedscene is interrupted by a phone call (seriously). This proved a very long and dragging episode... Our "fatal attraction" couple shared yet more office scenes... I say, if he needs to be in her office, then it's a failure. I really cannot praise the writer of this.
At episode 10, I was dead tired of it even if the expected plot WOULD finally begin (which it still did not). Mostly the scenes consisted of yet more debates going in circles... I'm afraid I no longer cared whether the main girl breaks-up with her longtime boyfriend, or whether she does whatever. The only entertainment in this series was provided by her eccentric best friend, but it was tenth episode already. It was all past funny. So, while I don't know whether the main girl & guy really become lovers or that stayed in the opening credits only, or who ended up (breaking up) with whom, I DO know I'm not interested to watch 3 MORE episodes.
I recommend to watch the opening credits and to skip the series.
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The synopsis depicts the first season, not this thing
Okay, second season... We have the two main guys... I don't even care about them that much, actually. But they seem happy together. Goody. Then we have some secondary guys... Whose "sex and stupid behavior" I care even less about, lol. Is this 8 episodes only? Goody.Oh! Now I know what's missing. The 'Lazy Subber' commentary. I know. They would definitely comment: "Is he crying AGAIN?" LOL. We have also some new guys. Watching them is maybe less tedious than the old ones... We have the girl who played the "unsuspecting girlfriend" of one of the "I'm not gay!" boys, and didn't get to finish her aspiring romance with the nice, handsome pilot. Shall she have her happy ending now?
I was more or less bored in episode 2 already... The main characters show so far no progress. Also, the previous creepy side-character seems to be main character, now... The background music seems completely random and not very fitting the scenes. I guess they just used whatever was at hand:) This "series" felt half-amateurish in the first season already, now it looks they've really given up on keeping appearances.
"Episode" 3... Okay this is unwatchable. I wouldn't call it a "series" at all and I can understand now why even 'Lazy Subber' renounced this and it got only subtitled by a site that specializes on subbing gay bed scenes (usually they don't bother to sub any episode in full).
The synopsis for this season is actually identical copy + paste of the season 1 synopsis. But maybe it's yet another sign. Better repeat watching the first season, than to watch this thing.
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I'm a sucker for a love-hate and good cinematography, yet I hated this
While I was quite looking forward to this, I ended up hating this and dreading to see any similar synopsis, genre or the same producer/director lakorn ever again.It went as far that while before watching this, I loved Michael Pataradet (totally dreamy-looking guy, see his profile picture on sharerice, I fell for him in Yai Kanlaya, no matter how silly that show was:) and after this I started to dislike him quite a bit. I also disliked the leading girl Pooklook Fonthip and her kind of "beauty". In the end all was off-putting. This is REALLY not my cup of coffee, tea, green coffee or matcha or any thing.
I find it hard to explain now why it was all so hateful that I dropped watching, because luckily I have tried to displace it from my mind, so perhaps in the future I can enjoy another Michael Pataradet lakorn again.
So I moved from this to some thing I can actually enjoy watching.
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It doesn't start well as 1st epi has number of scenes that are very awkward. Margie's husband is not only ugly, also cannot act. After watching him for a while, suddenly even Dome doesn't look so bad. I started being grateful that he was there, LOL.
But not for long. Since epi 2, the slap/kiss begins. Okay... There's a real enough looking slap. But then comes an awful fake "kiss". Eww! Why? If you won't deliver, then DON'T put such scene in. Simple. The conversation about the kiss that follows is way more feisty than the kiss itself. Margie later even laments on how her FIRST kiss got stolen. Gee, she's 28.
Moving on...
There is a girl who is more attractive than Margie (read: doesn't look as boyish) who gets drunk at bars in frustration she cannot compete with her in anything. That's weird to watch, too.
There's also some "action" stuff featured in this lakorn... Needless to say it is not good and nobody watches LAKORN for it, anyways.
Episode 5 repeats the fake kiss Margie & Dome. I say if she's unable to kiss anyone except her husband, then let her make lakorns with him only, or leave the industry. As for me, I'm probably quitting watching this. Why stick for 5 more episodes?
Skimmed through episode 6 + episode 7 preview... I am dropping this.
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But, I loved the episode 4 ending! This is how I would love to see the female lead act sometimes, and we never get to see it!:-) Also, there was the hilarious moment when Viwa looks for Faigun and asks around saying that he looks like Kao Jirayu, lol.
It was funny when beginning the 5th epi, she had to kiss him like 16x times in a row for him to finally ask her to be his gf, but I agreed with it, that precisely showed how much it takes and why people are slow and waste so many years or their whole lives sometimes. Plus, it was funny:-) Next thing she done was she forbid him to break-up with her because it was clear there will be people lining up to separate them.
In the final episode, it's got another twist that is incomparable with any other of the "Girl Next Room" stories. Which is why my rating is higher this time. The main character girl conveyed herself well and better than the usual type of heroines. Even the side roles like the dorm lady or Viwa's manager proved more than one depth.
Overall, what's great is all the show managed to convey in the short screentime: quite a success, considering it whole probably took a few days to shoot (judging from Gigi's clothes). Still it delivered some entertainment industry references and nice cameo.
What I liked in the preceding "Richy Rich" story the most, was Neo Trai's rap* at the post-ending of last episode, introducing this story. Though I honestly did not expect it to be better (previously, I even dropped one story), in the end it was.
Then... We get it again!* :-)
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One of the boys is totally confident in his sexual orientation, also it's love at 1st sight for him and he's fully committed to make it a steady relationship. The other boy thought his whole life that he liked girls. So, he needs to process things first, nevertheless it was him who initiated the first sex (though he was drunk) so I believed he just needed some time to realize whether he wants to be just friends, or boyfriends. What was a bit funny was that he suggested some kind of trial period, after which he'll decide if he's really open to dating a guy, if he likes the boy in question enough, and also - kind of surprisingly - if the committed boy would really be able to put up with him. Because he said that he had some traits he doesn't show even to his friends, and no one of his exes were able to put up with it. I found all this pretty far from "standard".
Also, this is Tagged "Airhead Male Lead", which probably refers to the confused boy. Well, his actor is 17. And his character is supposed to be a bit immature. So, I would not see the need to judge him very harshly. I was actually surprised by his reaction after the 1st one night stand. Him asking the committed boy - who is like ready to marry him since the 1st second - to give it a try first, because time will tell, was actually pretty reasonable and exactly the thing the two guys, after a single drunken encounter, needed to do.
Question is whether that offers enough entertaining drama for all the remaining episodes. Mostly it's just an eye candy watch, as viewers would definitely find at least one of the boys more than goodlooking, and/or very cute. Obviously none of the "annoying traits" and "bad habits" were enough to discourage the committed boy. He was totally in love and had all the time in the world (also apparently enough money) to be endlessly patient with the confused boy. After all, he was very young, so what if he was a bit silly. He was THIS good looking at 17 already! The committed boy knew he hit the jackpot. No, he won't let go of him;-)) I could clearly see he wanted to marry him since episode 1.
And it's not just the two main boys. Also all the friends are super cute. They usually make funny faces watching how the older of the boys keeps taking care of the younger one.
I had honestly enough way sooner than 12 episodes. 6 would be more than sufficient. I was mostly bored. But, there's good kissing despite the younger actor's tender age.
This show can be recommended to viewers who like watching attractive people talking about/hooking up. Not recommended to viewers who are not patient to watch fools.
Note: The youtube version has english captions, which offer only rough translation. You'll be alright if you already watch thai shows for a few years. iQIYI version (link offered here on MDL under "Where to Watch Ai Long Nhai") has proper subtitles, but it plays only like 6 minutes of the video, then asks you to pay for a membership if you want to watch it all.
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This is one class better than the previous 'Kiss' series, meaning it's still 0.5 lower than average.
"Music" is EXTREMELY repetitive, pieces of it going on and on in loops, without it being suited to given scenes. Editing is choppy. Casting is questionable, though not so much as in the first season. Any "romance" there is here is kind of lukewarm...I know people would ship Phit & Kao, but honestly their scenes are nothing special (there's still 'Dark Blue Kiss', perhaps it shall work out on the third attempt), and that's still the best this show has to offer. Fon Sananthachat, whose body looks disturbingly more like a middleschooler's than twenty-something girl's, looks uncomfortable with March Chutavuth more than anything else. Thanaerng Kanyawee doesn't seem attractive or girly enough (she's got her trademark boyish look) to pull Mond Tanutchai's character firmly in straight waters, and as for Pango Jintanutda with Earth Pirapat, they might as well be invisible, and I ended up skipping their scenes entirely.
Despite the show's title, kissing is not something that could be enjoyed here frequently or clearly. What does happen clearly are people smacking each other's mouths, hitting each other's head with a stick, guys trying to rape girls, girls calling other girls at places where they would be raped with them watching, and similar small episodes during the character's broad daylight routines. It all reminds you... Eh, other thai series, or the first 'Kiss' series, where the "romance" was dying in agony for 16 episodes but we did have a clinical psycho there walking among normal people alright.
I'm not even writing a proper romance drama review because this show is neither really a romance, nor a drama.
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So, this could be the same good fun, or even better, as we don't have to deal with anyone's feces. But! These 3+1 ladies cannot measure up to the main foursome who were way cuter and funnier in Diary. Also, not often you see opening credits that have such a distinct party style. Most cases I felt a pitty the episode that followed did not have quite the same drive and it was like still waiting for something to "get the party started". But it has good friendship feel and understanding of relationships. And I admit Pompam Niti is way better actor than I would think him.
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This review may contain spoilers
A bumpy "ride"...
Let's see: good-looking cast, nice music, nice title song... no real kiss.I don't understand how in the world is this related to 'My Sassy Girl', but it's not important to me, anyways.
There is a bad guy/love rival who looks neither menacing nor handsome.
I fell for Kan Kantathavorn in 'Pang Sanaeha'. But then, his other "meh" roles (like in 'Lueat Tat Lueat'), or "side-villain vampire" roles (well he DOES look a bit like a vampire, LOL) did not do it for me, and here's not much better. She is a pretty girl, but the kind that's boring to watch. There's nothing asian about Davika Hoorne, even her eyes look completely european. So if not for Rapeepat Eakpankul wearing really colourful clothes the whole time, I would be bored with the cast.
Any fun there is here is shortlived. The lead couple decide they like each other after a few episodes, then of course it's side-character's business to cause them to separate.
There is heart-breaking scene when nang'ek decides to leave the farm due to some nang'rai plotting, when a child that long refused to speak finally does: in order to beg her to stay. Nang'ek still leaves, she doesn't stay even when the child is running after her car, even after the child falls on the ground. I thought that wrong. Should she only stay for the pra'ek?
I had fun again for a little while, when the spoiled Rose is back in the city and decides to become hardworking person, and start from the bottom. Working at the hotel, she even does maid service:) This doesn't last long enough either, though. Soon we're back to the side-character plotting "drama".
Rapeepat Eakpankul's character ceases his antics for one second to kiss the cute Mink but it's yet another fake "kiss" that looks veery awkward.
Then the pra'ek & nang'ek get together again... and there are still four 1,5 hour episodes remaining, again. So, there comes another EXTREMELY stupid plot to separate them, yet again. And they get saved, again. Rapeepat Eakpankul's character features in a badass scene. Do you know my motto 'Lakorn characters should be prohibited to use guns'? This is even a "comic relief" character using a gun. Honestly I don't know how many minus points I am going to charge in my overall rating for a thing like that:)
When it looks it's all resolved, somehow still three 1,5 hour episodes remain. It seems endless... (Another points down.) It was never a good story flow and once again, lakorn characters should NOT use guns. I tried more than once to emotionally connect to this or just enjoy the simple ride, but it skipped to a halt and then restarted again, more than once. Usually I wish thai lakorns to concentrate more on the romance and give up on a corny crime villains that only are coming across as ridiculous. Here we have one who also tries to get the nang'ek romantically but the actor (apart from low acting skills) really isn't a looker so that aspect is not working out. I could forgive the totally over the top "action/kidnapping" silly episode if it happened once in the series, not three times. In fact most lakorns - in their quest to fill the long runtime - use the "self rip-off" script where they basically replay the same thing several times, you realize it when you think of it. Here it really stands out without thinking:) So it's especially ridiculous and not enjoyable.
I watched the "action rip-off" episode with all the couples joining in (of course everyone carries a gun, the lovers, the doctors, the funny fatsos...) and it STILL wasn't the last one. Still 2 hour-and-halfs left to go... Watching those, I got in a state of mind where if nang'ek got shot, I didn't get stirred. Of course we needed the scene where doctors are idiots and leave the body of supposedly dead person because all is needed are the tears of the pra'ek for them come back to life... I guessed if she wakes up, she'll have amnesia. Was I right? Would that even be a spoiler if I write it here? This series is practically a lakorn & a parody of a lakorn all in one. But wait, first we need the scene where Kan Kantathavorn does fyzioteraphy, pedicure and singing while playing his guitar for the sleeping nang'ek. So I thought I really got as much "fun" as I am even able to handle... Luckilly, Davika Hoorne's character wakes soon and rescues the audience. Rest of the episode we're away from hospital or any gunshooting. And only one to go.
Kan Kantathavorn should not sing. If he also sang the title song then I apologize, but his "live" singing in the lakorn was... Eh, I mean it was funny once, but no audience laughs twice at the same joke.
Ew... another aawkward fake not-kiss in final epi. If that was supposed to be the climax of everything, then, yeah. Other two couples also had their little happy endings. One couple had more attractive and cute woman than the lead one, actually. The other was the "funny" couple consisting of weird characters who acted like bufoons one minute, then badass armed fighters the next. The two dads and the kids and funny countryside returned, we were finally free of the overdone bullsh*t... Still the final dragged for me. It was just a late reminder of what atmoshpere this show SHOULD have kept. And then this review of mine wouldn't need to be this long (but it kinda mirrors my viewer experience).
Eh... Counting everything in my overall rating, it got at the level you can see... fairly counted from the perfect average 5.0, of course (which equals any mildly enjoyable romance series). Would the lakorn makers learn they'd be better off if they'd keep things simple? I somehow doubt it, but who knows;)
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