Blkittykat

A sequel that messed up a non-existent story

I watched this literally immediately after watching the first movie, and if you've read my review for that one, you may recall that I'm watching them to scare myself more. And that I wasn't quite satisfied with the story aspect of the movie. Well let me pivot! Because I didn't know having a story could disappoint me this much.

As far as the scare factor goes - this was okay. A few good jumpscares, if you watch it with the volume up, definitely very scary. And once again, too much gore for me (why?), but not the scariest thing out there.

The story - too bad because there's too much and not enough at the same time! All I wanted was an ounce of explanation, but this was absolutely nothing. It was like watching two different movies and I only liked one.

The first half of the movie is a cross between horror and adventure with Yak venturing into a haunted forest to battle his ghosts, and I mean that literally. It felt like a way for them to just inflict a bunch of on-screen hauntings and killings for the sake of the shock factor but.. it didn't do the intended job. Because to be shocking, you need some emotional connection to the characters and all of the new characters were people who were on-screen for a combined screentime of maybe half an hour. This was the backstory that I so desperately wanted after the first movie, but it went off on an unknown tangent, introducing new characters and not providing context for old ones. And the worst part? It had almost no connection to the second half.

The second half was much better. I would've preferred this be the entire movie because it focused on the family and their struggle not only with the evil spirit but their past experience. It had great flow, the characterization actually felt on point, too bad it lasted around 45 minutes in total. Because again, I know this is based on a novel, based on real events, but I think when you're making a movie you can tell those events in a more coherent manner? It was such a strange and fragmented experience, going from a really almost unnecessary and boring first half to a good second half.

This was okay. I think the first one was much better and I don't know what the story will be in movie three, but this was just okay.

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The bet of healing

Therapy Game is what you get when you try to elevate a classic JBL plot and choose to give up halfway, and attempt to execute something else that only makes sense once you've finished the series. The show is so aptly titled that it took me nine episodes to actually understand the depth of it, and I am shook.

The episodes begin with Minato, a man with an extreme bro-complex (which in this context just meant he's someone who is very protective of his brother lol) meeting Shizuma, who's just been broken up with. They meet at Minato's regular bar and spend the night together, but in the morning Shizuma says he doesn't remember a thing.
After having his feelings hurt by this turn of events, Minato decides to get revenge by seducing Shizuma and breaking up with him once he confesses his love. He also makes a bet with his friends at the bar that he will make Shizuma fall in love with him, and that he will break his heart.

If we go based off of the usual formula, this is the point where things would either get super dark or super cute, and instead it just kind of meandered in between, never really going anywhere for a couple of episodes before going full throttle on the sweet and sunshine path.
Minato swears revenge, he vows to never fall in love, falls in love shortly after - and the big conflict which should be the fallout from the bet, comes as quickly as it goes.

We get a second couple, Itsuki ànd Shoheli, who's only purpose in the story is to be supportive siblings - because they are the elder brother and younger brother of Minato and Shizuma respectively. The big conflict is resolved by them, and while I'm all for swift resolution, I think I would've preferred a dragged out misunderstanding to having them talk it out in the park like two ten year olds who fought a couple of days ago about their legos.

Instead we got multiple other problems that were solved within the episode - like the ex-girlfriend, a childhood trauma, but all of them were unnecessary and underdeveloped.

That's when you need to ask yourself, what do you want to experience more? The intent behind the scenes or the execution of a scene? I'm a confused individual and could not decide, just like them - but my analysis is that focusing on the intent behind the story is bound to help you fall more in love with the series.

Because you get the point. It's easy to identify that the bet, the distance, the jealousy were all a bid to help Minato slowly heal from his trauma and discover what love is. That having their siblings and their friends to give advice did not only that, but showed them they had way more love than they thought they did.
That the conflicts up until the finale were leading up to them realising all that. And then it's easy to piece together that they had a great idea, but kind of messed up on the execution.

I did love the chemistry between the leads, they had the perfect amount of fiery passion and slow realisation, and honestly, their dynamic as a couple was really sweet. The way the conflicts were immediately de-escalated did one great thing, make their relationship seem more real and grounded. The adorable factor was also amazing, literally all of the characters were sweet and cute and wholesome.

I loved all the characters as well, for the reasons mentioned above, but also because all of them were so cool and charming and well written.

Overall, this was an enjoyable series. Just masquerading around as something toxic, so if you go into it expecting that? You may be a bit disappointed. But! I can say with some confidence that you'll keep watching because it's fun and cute. Atleast that's what happened to me lol

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Very impressive, a little long

Now, I watched this a long time ago. A very long time ago. I still remember it clearly, I was in a terrible mood, decided to watch this on a whim because Netflix recommended it to me. But I remember it very clearly. I do, the kind of impact it left for me to remember the entire plot after so long.. some plots really do get better the more you let them sit, don't they?

This was genuinely very impressive, even when I watched it for the first time. It was thrilling, had the right amount of mystery without it feeling like they were trying too hard or making the audience extremely confused, and I was genuinely impressed.

The story follows eight former friends who were all part of the mountain climbing club when they were in school. They drift apart after a scandal and the events of the series take place when they are all invited to a mountain cabin by one of the members. They arrive, stuff goes down and big by bit, we discover that there was much more to their friendship than we or even they thought. You know, the classic slow reveals.

And they do them right. Not one of the reveals felt like they were out of left field, or just some random plot thrown in to create conflict, they were all extremely relevant to the plot and how it flowed. It was a scary at times, very mysterious and it keeps you invested.

I will admit, I don't remember much about the characters, but I do remember that I loved Jake Hsu's character, I remember rooting heavily for him and I think that may be because he had very little to do with the mess? He's an important character definitely, but I always find myself rooting for the characters who are unwillingly trapped in someone else's mess, because come on! It's not their mess!

The only thing that could have been better was the pace, sometimes it just dragged on for so long, I had to take frequent pauses because it did get a bit boring at times.

I will recommend this though, it is a solid murder mystery, and it's got so much else going on as well, and I hope this review convinced you to give it a try!

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A good sequel

This was.. this was good but I think I expected it to be a bit better.

The third movie in the franchise follows the characters from the second movie, First, Balloon, Min Jun, Novice Monk Noht, Aod and Kiddie, as they travel to the Mekong region along with new character Bam Bam to discover the reason for Aod's sudden illness and the history of a cursed anklet.

As far a world building goes, this movie did perfect. They had already established this storyline in the prequel and bit by bit, we see the continuation of that final scene from the second movie play out here. This movie was also very connected to the Naga mythology, more so than the first two I'd say, and they explained it much better as well.

The horror.. was actually not bad. Still not scary, but as far as the franchise goes, might be the best until now.

So why am I a bit disappointed? The comedy. I expected a bit more and better comedy after the first two movies, and with this good story, I think they could have definitely better on the humor front. It was still funny, but I didn't find myself laughing as much as I did during the other two. I still loved the chaotic and absurd comedy style though.

This was a good sequel, I do think watching the other parts would help, especially since they make a ton of references to them, the storylines and the characters, and it is quite literally a continuation of the second movie, so I would definitely recommend watching them all.

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A better executed sequel

I don't usually hold much expectations of sequels, because they either mess up the plot of the prequel or feel like an attempt to capitalize on a story that doesn't require a sequel. This was one of the instances where a sequel, although not really necessary, surpassed the quality in all aspects of the original.

The second movie in the Pee Nak franchise follows the leads from the prequel, Nong, First and Balloon, haunted by yet another spirit in the same temple they were all ordained, but this time, the spirit seems to be even more vengeful than the last, and seems to hold a special grudge towards First and Balloon. They are joined by K-Pop idol Min Jun, who is to be ordained at the temple, and several novice monks and people who live at the temple to solve the new mystery.

The story flowed much more seamlessly this time around, the plot was still rooted in mythology and could have been explained better because I had a hard time connecting it to the actual story, but the main narrative itself was written without being too fragmented.

The horror.. it was still not quite scary but I'll forgive them because I don't come for the scary, I'm not a huge fan of the scary.

What I do come for is the comedy, which was also better in this movie. The same absurdist, dark comedy, but a bit more well written and enhanced by the fact that we had some established characters and could read into how they would behave during certain situations.

The sequel does have connections to the first movie, so be sure to give that one a watch before this. It's actually alright if you don't as well, there a few details that may be confusing if you haven't watched the prequel, but this is a brand new plot and the biggest connections to the first movie are the characters. I would recommend this over the first one, but I would also recommend watching that one if you want continuity.

Overall, this was a decent horror comedy, nothing too brilliant but it gets the job done, much like Pee Nak.

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All for being the Sexiest Man

I do love that they've somehow managed to make an eleven episode plot out of probably the most insignificant award ever, and what I love even more is that fact that it worked.

It worked very well. Is the plot a thinly veiled excuse to have Boom cry almost every episode? SURE! But did I also eat it up like it was no one's business? You bet.
Because by all means the plot was the most scattered and random thing ever, the entire series was based on the fact that one lead absolutely loved and adored the other and thus decided to become exactly like him. What followed that was a bunch of unprompted jealousy, weird entertainment company politics and just a whole lot of crime. I don't even know what happened there, it was the most random stuff ever and that was the way you could always tell that this was actually based on a manga. None of it individually, or together for that fact, should make sense, but boy does it.
But the plot was absolutely the most random thing ever, no doubt about that.

The glue was Akin and Jun. Jin.
Their love story was the entire point of watching and making this series, it carries the plot and was actually very, very nice. They had a complicated dynamic right from the beginning, teetering between attraction and pure detest, but it worked. You never have to ask yourself why they're attracted to each other or like each other, I guarantee that.

And with the romance comes chemistry. SO MUCH CHEMISTRY.
Boom and Smart, I mean.
The honey scene?! Come on.
And they had all kinds of chemistry, not just the intense kind, they had cute chemistry, the 'I'm dating my best friend' kind of chemistry and of course, they had the 'I want to kiss you with the force of a thousand waterfalls' kind of chemistry in spades.
Just so good together.

But.. but.. this review would be amiss if I didn't mention one person..
BOOM
What-
Akin was written for him. I think that quite a bit about a lot of characters, but that statement has never held more true in any other case. The nuance with which Boom played Akin.. I mean.. it was perfect. No words would be enough to describe just how perfect he was, hats off. Just brilliant.

My only real complaint is the scattered plot, if it had been a bit more solid, would've been great but like I said, this worked, so I'm not complaining much.
Oh, I have one more complaint. The amount of times they made Akin cry. Why?

This is actually a very good series, it captured my attention and kept it until the very last scene, and might I say they set up a sequel? I don't know, if you know let me know.

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The clichéd art of subtlety

I want to say something about how they subverted the clichés of the romance genre by creating clever twists or by doing the unexpected, but let's get honest, this was as clichéd as clichés can get and I enjoyed every bit of it.

Let's clear one thing up, the lead is not an actor in the lakorn, he's actually the director who inadvertently has to direct something in the format he most detests after what happens at the beginning of the movie. And while having someone do something they both love and hate is not quite the revelation, the execution was actually genius. The leads usually try to fight it and do things their own way, but here, he has no choice but to do it like someone else wants.

Whether it's by force, or because the another lead, his girlfriend, absolutely loves lakorns or even because he's actually starting to fall in love with the job, the neverending clichés start presenting with some sort of charm, while usually this kind of barrage would feel outright like the writer hated writing the script. I know the last sentence is quite confusing but I'm not going to clarify anything on purpose because that aspect I'm keeping secretive was one of the best of the movie.

As you keep watching, you fall in love with the clichés, all of them, and whether you saw the twists coming or not, you've just thoroughly enjoyed an entire movie about something you usually scoff at after seeing too much on the screen.

It just works. You can tell everyone who worked on this had fun with it and to that effect, so did I. I was looking up movies on Netflix and randomly came across this one and just reading the synopsis, got myself prepared for either a lot of scoffing or a pleasant surprise. I'm glad it was the latter.

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A pleasant surprise

I don't know if this was because I started the series when I was desperately in need of something light and fluffy, or because it was genuinely good, but I am so pleasantly surprised by how good it was.

It's your basic pretend relationship but I was sold from the get go. Add to that Thomas looking like he does and chemistry between the leads, and I was double sold. The story moved at a brisk pace (bar the little lull in episodes 8-10), and it wasn't repetitive. They actually stuck to the pretend relationship instead of completely forgetting about it at some point like I've seen other shows do with their main plotline, which I really appreciated. The relationship between Rak and Fah developed very nicely, again surprisingly the writing was pretty solid.

In the same vein, I loved how the characters themselves and the romance between the leads were written. I'll admit, overly cutesy characters are not my favorite, mostly because they can never seem to get some kind of depth written to them. Their cute and that's it. But Rak was more than that, and I got to see this through a storyline I thought was unnecessary but turned out to be really important. Same with Fah, he's supposed to be a stoic character, but throughout the series, there were moments where he didn't take himself too seriously and showed his vulnerability which I loved to see.
And every other supporting character was written just as well, I found myself appreciating their presence on screen and in the lives of the leads with every passing episode. They were entertaining, endearing characters.

The romance between the leads was also written so well, they showed the character development clearly without being too explicit, created scenarios for us to see just why they liked each other, what's not to appreciate? I would have appreciated more screentime for both of the side couples though, I feel like that's a complaint I have with every rom com I watch though.

The acting was good, there were some unnecessary scenes and some of them were dragged out too long, but for the most part the pacing was steady and crisp, and the music was pretty cute as well.

The series was nothing new, it had the same ten clichés every romance title has and yet I enjoyed it to the fullest extent. It was truly a pleasant surprise.

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Are you happy in the end?

When I describe a "hard watch", it's usually something I had a tough time getting through, for whatever reason, but when I say this is a hard watch, do no take that lightly.
This is brutal, raw and downright disgusting at times, and that made it so hard to watch, so hard that I had to constantly take breaks, watch a lighter, more easily palatable show in between watching episodes of this just so I could finish the series.

But don't let that put you off either. Watching this, you definitely need to be in the right mind space, and you could even do the things I did to calm yourself. The brutality and morbid reality of this series are no joke, but don't let that put you off.

This series perfectly depicted an interdependent relationship that teetered between comfort and toxicity. Where another person is your comfort zone in a world that's oùt to get you, but they may very well be the reason the world is oùt to get you. Chihiro and Haoren are pitiable characters but I don't think they were written to be viewed as just that. They're not wonderful people, no one in this series is, but they're flawed in a likeable manner. You want to root for them. Each episode makes you root for them even more because you realise that their actions are the consequences of other people's actions. The decisions they made weren't devised to be evil by nature, they were more like coping mechanisms to adapt to their surroundings.

They are messed up, yes, but it's also so much more complicated than that. With each episode, you can see each of their perceptions of love and life change and grow, the twisted comfort the two of them bring to each other are the only good things in their lives. And no matter how toxic or twisted it seemed, there was no denying that they brought each other happiness.

This is such a complicated series to write a review for, because it was dark, uncomfortable and harrowing, but the thing that kept me going were the little glimpses of Chihiro and Haoren being each other's lights. The light at the end of the tunnel. I stuck with it, and it was worth it. Be prepared before you venture into this, watch it concurrently with a lighter drama if you need to, or even convince someone to watch it with you, whatever you need, and just focus on Chihiro and Haoren asking each other, 'are you happy?'

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Is the multiverse.. real?

You can dissociate the idea that MAME came up with this story when you first start it because by all means, why not?! Come on! I did it! It completely slipped my mind that this is a MAME series before I started it because there seemed to be an actual story and I was enjoying it, coming up with theories, basically having fun with it even if a lot of it didn't make much sense.

Then I watched episode five and I couldn't delude myself anymore. This is a MAME production alright because those ten or so cliches in every one of her series became more and more prominent. The things that previously didn't make any sense suddenly felt like such obvious clues to the twist in that episode and I couldn't do it any longer, I could no longer make that dissociation.

For a couple of episodes after that the story dragged on a bit before it picked up again and I was once again shocked that an actual semblance of a story was present in a MAME production but again, so were all the clichés and toxic characters and behaviour. It's like a pattern, and if you have noticed the events in that pattern, you know they're genuinely atrocious.

Which is where my problem with the series lies. The premise of the story and the latter few twists, in retrospect, were actually pretty good. They felt like a fresh take on the genre (I'm surprising myself writing these words), but there was that one plot point, that one twist that kind of cheapened the entire story. It was a good twist, I won't lie, it caught me off guard and I was shocked and angry at it, and now it's just a bitter aftertaste.

That twist then shifted things not only in the rest of the story, but also in the romance and the dynamics between all the characters. Which was a pity because Boss and Neoul had good chemistry, and the series would have benefited a bit more if the focus had been on them and certain other supporting characters rather than the ones they actually focused on. Even with the good chemistry, the dynamics in the romance changed with the twists in the story and the viewing experience felt hot and cold.

The brightest spot in the series for me was the second couple. They didn't have much screentime together, but even individually they stole the show and I loved their energy as a couple and as individuals. Especially Jin. My sweet cloud photo taking prince, I loved his character.

After all that buildup, let me just say this isn't some mind altering series. It's stupid and fun and sometimes very inappropriate but it's not going to change the landscape of dramas about parellel/multiple universes. You go into it prepared for some amount of absolute nonsense and maybe like me, come out of it liking it a bit more than you thought you would.

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Joke

Twas a joke.
I'm the joke.
What did I just watch?

I cannot believe I spent two hours on this, I am pissed and I did not think Yin and War could disappoint me like this. I mean, I would watch trash for them because I've come to expect that they will always deliver something brilliant. Even if it was just for the nostalgia of watching all my favourite characters from Jack and Joker on screen again, isn't that what special episodes are for after all? But what was this?

I thought the first hour and a half was not bad. Nothing brilliant either, I just wanted a few more romantic moments between Jack and Joker than we got in the twelve episode series, maybe some actual movement between Tattoo and Aran, some family bonding moments for the Deck of Cards..
They decided to double down on the plot though, which okay, again not the worst thing, expectations don't always pan out.

They continued the plot from the original series seamlessly, so points for that, and we did get a few romantic and really cute moments! Sure, the story felt a little stilted and rushed, but I convinced myself that that's what happens in specials! Sure, the fighting felt extremely staged and the mystery wasn't exactly mystifying, but hey! It's a special. You don't need a brilliant story or a massive plot, you need good continuation and a ton of moments between the couples that we didn't get in the series. And for the first hour and a half, we got all that, and it was not bad.

It can only go up from there because special episodes don't shock you by adding unnecessary twists and turns, it's supposed to be a happy episode, correct? WRONG
Oh boy was I wrong, and how..

The last half hour ruined it all. Just ruined it. I spent those thirty with my mouth open and just repeating the words "please let it all be a dream, please".
I think we can infer the direction the episode took from that sentence. I'm not even going to say anything about those thirty minutes because I am furious right now, absolutely furious. Of all the things they could have done, this was the worst possible one. One scene at that hour and a half mark led to scenes that got worse and worse and I kind of want to cry now thinking about how badly they ruined it.

Yin and War's chemistry was great, so was Mark and Prom's, everyone in the cast acted their hearts out as they usually do, but ugh! I would like nothing more than to forget this exists because it feels like an insult to the actors and the audience if I'm being honest. The full length series was actually good, and I refuse to acknowledge that this special episode is a continuation of the series. I don't care if they've set it up for a sequel, I don't care, as far as I'm concerned, episode 12 was it and any sequel continues from there, even if the story doesn't make sense.

Oh I'm so angry.. it physically hurts to give it such a low rating but I cannot physically rate it any higher either

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I've never needed to hear you say you love me

The notion of expressing your love through more than words holds just as much, sometimes more, meaning than saying the words I love you. These thirteen episodes were a brilliant representation of that.

Romance can be plot driven, but more often than not it is character driven, through and through. The character writing and development gets a perfect, beyond perfect score from me. Often we see two flawed characters help each other grow, but it was so pleasantly surprising to see two characters, one who is seemingly imperfect and in his and many other's opinion, useless and another who is seemingly perfect, seen as strong and invulnérable by everyone around him, help each other grow out of the boxes they've set for themselves.
Because love can mean seeing the best in someone, but also getting to see someone in their worst moments.

It was refreshing to see Zi Xiang push himself, better himself, and at the same time see Shao Pang realize that he does not need to be strong and happy all the time. The two of them helped each other grow into more vulnerable yet fulfilled versions of themselves and I loved watching them just communicate through all the issues that cropped up along the way, because thankfully, misunderstandings can actually be solved by good communication.

The second couple were interesting as well, they complemented each other's energy very well and provided each other with what I think the other person was looking for, one for safety and comfort, another for someone to match his energy, someone solid and persevering.

The plot was a little uneven at times, but for the most part was very well written. The plot points about discrimination in the workplace based on disabilities and the conversation surrounding the 'normalcy' of disabilities were especially poignant, relevant and well written. Since it was mostly a character and romance driven plot, the chemistry between the leads would be the focal point to get it to work, and yes, the chemistry was flawless.

Overall, it was an incredibly sweet and genuine love story that had me crying more times than I anticipated I would because their story genuinely moved me. So many moments that made me sigh in happiness, so many that caused me to hold back a choke or two just witnessing how happy the two of them were. Be prepared for a ton of emotions and go for it.

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None of my damn business

The best thing about this was the chemistry between the leads, it just worked. And when you have seven episodes, around 10 minutes each, you're kind of depending on the chemistry to pull through and lucky for them, it did.

Because the story tried to fit ten different tropes into one series and I honestly couldn't right up to the finale if they resolved everything or not. You had your phone call misunderstandings, you're jealousy of an ex who's not really an ex, the kiss after a drunken night out, and of course, the moment where your boss discovers an 18+ webtoon on your pen drive which was supposed to have documents. And I'm racking my brain to see if they resolved everything as I write this review, and I guess they did..? Kind of, because once you get past the point where the writer and the audience (me), stops bothering about the story, you hinge on good acting, and good chemistry, which two thumbs up.

It's a K BL, the cinematography was obviously beautiful and it's so incredibly short that it can be watched in one sitting. Or you can take your time. It's just basic, trope filled fun and.. yeah. It's good, fun and you can watch it or not, it's none of my damn business.
(See what I did there? Yeah?)

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Sweet and chaotic

I'm so pleasantly surprised by this, it was a simple and uncomplicated love story made so complicated and funny because of how chaotic the leads were.

And not just that, they avoided so many tropes I thought would definitely crop up, there was no love triangle, no exes popping up without reason, and while there was plenty of miscommunication and misunderstandings, it was most definitely part of the story's charm.

Though it got frustrating at times, Hiroko and Ayaka made it worth the watch. The charming mix of hopelessly crushing on each other inadvertently turning into panic in both of them was amazing to watch, and the tight script that made time for not just this but delved into their backstories, friendships and workplace histories meant that there wasn't a lot of time being spent on one storyline to the extent of it becoming boring and repetitive.

Hiroko was definitely the more frustrating lead, at least for me, because despite the fact that I could see where she was coming from and what she meant to express through her confusing actions, the lack of communication on her end sometimes made me genuinely angry.
They had a good balance though, Ayaka definitely knew what she wanted and went for it, and her positive, sunshine attitude was so refreshing to watch.

Even the supporting characters were exceptional, though we didn't get to see much of them, their presence in the story was irreplaceable and just made me more invested in them and the leads.

There was just so much to this series that I enjoyed and I highly recommend.

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Childhood friends, neighbors,

Lovers..?
Yeah, they didn't have enough time to develop it fully either way.

There was nothing extraordinary, mostly because they didn't have enough time to cover the basics, but they got somewhere, and established something, so not all bad.

Like I said, childhood friends and neighbors, have had a crush on each other for the longest time but just won't open up to each other for.. reasons. It's not like they were being subtle either, so it makes me wonder why neither of them caught onto the fact that the other person had a crush on them, but that's a question for another time.

What followed was a lot of flirting, wound dressing and the pettiest of all misunderstandings, leading up to them almost becoming a couple. Still can't tell what happened despite the fact that it was very clear.

It was cute though, I enjoyed their banter and they were very sweet together despite insisting they hated each other. There were literally just three other characters and they weren't bad either. But I cannot not bring up the music, I believe they literally got one of the leads to walk up with a mic and just sing while the footage ran and used that as music. It was not good.

It was very short and unsubstantial, so it would make a good background watch.

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