Blkittykat

Dissapointment noises

What did I expect really? That it would somehow become exponentially better after that dissapointment of a second half of Love Sea?

It didn't, and I'm not surprised. It's a bunch of nothing, which I've come to expect from specials, but this is also a bunch of BORING. And a bunch of nonsense, but I couldn't pay attention to most of it.
The island visuals were the only good thing, I'm just glad they didn't decide to split the time between that and Bangkok like Mut and Rak were going to.

The end credits were easily the best part.. the beach views and the crystal blue ocean.. and the fact that it was over, of course.
But hey, I finally figured out what his tattoo is. It's a quill and an infinity sign. Yay.

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Truly Interminable

A while ago, I wrote a review where I said there's no show but this that could be more aptly named, but I could not have been more wrong. The winner of the best named drama goes to Interminable, because this nonsense was truly interminable. It just went on and on and on until I was begging on my knees, praying that the torture will end. Every once in a while you come across a drama that makes you wonder who signed off on it, and I really wonder - why would you sign off on this?

Right from the beginning, it could not have been more confusing, because the story is told in parallel storylines, and it switches between the past (1910s) and the present (1940s), with no sense of coherence. There's no rhyme or reason to the scenes we see, it's in some random order, like they decided it would appear in the episodes based on the Q it was shot in. Almost every single actor plays the same person in both timelines - their names, their characteristics, their personalities are all so similar, so similar that the only way to identify what the timeline is is by looking at their clothing or hairstyles, and even then it's confusing because most of them are dressed in one outfit for the entirety of the series.

The actual story begins to unfold with Kaew recieving an inheritance from a distant relative on his father's side - a huge house that has affectionately been dubbed the Huge White House.. (subtle)
Anyways, it's his, ready to move into, only a small problem, he's got to share the space with a friend of this distant relative who also lives there. They won't bother him, but they're going to be there.

The minute they move in, Kaew starts having even more recurring dreams about a man, and even thinks he sees this man in the house - he's an apparition in white who comes and goes, and he gets the sense that they're acquainted with each other/have been for a long time. This person is none other than Khun Yai, a man who has been waiting for Kaew in that house for almost thirty years now.. because of a promise they gave to each other. Or he gave to Kaew, they're not very clear on that.

But thirty years ago, he gave a promise to the person he loved (also Kaew), and him, along with his assistant Saen and his nanny Yam have been bound to the house since then. With Kaew now reincarnated and back in the house, all he needs to do is fulfill that promise, but first, Kaew needs to regain all his memories of their past. And this fragmented attempt at creating tension gives us no real information, except
a) they were lovers
b) a person named Sophee hated that they were lovers

Sophee was in reality Yai's adopted sister who was in love with him, but he loved Kaew. Sophee is obviously shrill, jealous and vindictive, because her only role is to yell about Yai not paying attention to her, try to ruin his life and attempt murder. The huge narrative is that Yai and Kaew's love was cut short because of her, and that Yai's promise has something to do with this.
And to her part, Sophee has also reincarnated and the girl is smart in some sense, because she regains all her memories before Kaew does. I guess vengeance does run deeper than love? But once again, she can't get him, because one - he's a ghost, two - he's a ghost who still loves only Kaew. She schemes and threatens to try and get her way for no real reason other than a portrait that Kaew has drawn (he's an art student) of Yai, and she's convinced he must have reincarnated as well.

All this while, in the present, Yai has been a nuisance. He won't let Kaew live his life, he's jealous, possessive and incredibly intrusive - but he's also so secretive. To get some answers about his behaviour, Kaew ventures into an underground dungeon that is restricted to him, it's Yai's space and he's not allowed in there. But going into the dungeon gives him some answers about why Yai is so secretive, comes and goes as he pleases, disappears for days on end.. he finally finds out that he's a ghost. He runs away to a temple to talk to the monk there, who knows everything that happened thirty years ago

From them on, we're left to watch as Kaew slowly loses his sanity, not knowing what is going on, except that they were in love, before he gets a sudden influx of information conveniently put together in a couple of episodes, ensuring that any and all possibilities of creating a grand narrative is flushed down the drain. This continuous flashback is also of no use because suddenly there's a political uprising on the horizon that has more screentime that Kaew and Yai do, and their story goes no further - it's once again a ton of scheming and threats and the grand nature of all that is good but no actual story.

Because as it turns out, the entire story had actually been revealed in the trailer. If you've watched the trailer, you know the story. They were in love, they were killed because of someone's jealousy, one of them reincarnated and the other didn't. And that big promise that made the whole thing possible? I won't tell you because if I had to sit through this nonsense to find out - so will you (don't watch it, it's actual nonsense).

Interminable was a snoozefest, I'm not even sorry. There wasn't a single episode where I didn't accidentally doze off, only to wake up and see if I missed something. I missed nothing. Because nothing happens in there. For some huge love epic, they couldn't even convince me that they were in love. Things happen because they're supposed to happen, but why? Give me one good reason why Yai fell so madly in love with Kaew. Give me one instance where it looked like Kaew was also in love with Yai. They literally fell for each other because the plot said so.

Everything in this was just so.. mechanical. They're all just so frigid and statuesque in everything they do - are they trying to tell me that it was supposed to be expressionless ? Not a single emotion came through for me, again are they trying to tell me that two people who have apparently been tied by a promise so strong that their love has lasted over three decades.. cannot afford to actually look like they're in love?
Three decades and all they do is show Yai pine, pine and pine over Kaew while he looks on with a blank expression. No longing, no pain of seperation, no angst - no nothing. This is a classic example of "tell, not show" because every second scene has someone singing the praises of their love story, but I don't see it??

They keep telling us that something terrible has happened to all of them in their past life, but there is no sense of tragedy or urgency to their love story, the fleeting sense of every moment between them in the past was as amplified as a mosquito buzzing by your ear.

All the characters are so one dimensional - reduced to a single characteristic, I mean is that all they can be? Like caricatures, you can plot the exact route each character will have, in fact, if you must watch this make a game out of it. See if you can predict the exact storyline for each character. And if you're right? You win nothing because there are no winners here.

The cherry on top? The amount of plot holes. One or two, I can forgive, but the entire story felt like a pothole I accidentally tripped into and the thing was riddled with plot holes. Who was Sin? Why did he keep calling Saen his father? Who was Kan? Was he reincarnated? Why was there a sudden doppelganger who's body Yai inhabited? Who on earth wrote this story? Seriously who? I need to have a talk with them.

I'm so disappointed in almost everything - even the acting was so bad. I don't know if it's the actors or the writing but the last three minutes had the best acting in the entire series. May just be the writing because they finally let Kaew have some personality, too bad it lasted mere minutes.

I'm saying the +1 is for Billy and the 0.5 is for the chemistry.. but it's really because I cannot go lower than a one while rating it. My extra 0.5 is me being generous, I genuinely implore that you think twice before you watch Interminable. What a shame. I was so excited for this one and we got THIS. Trust me. Just trust me on this and stay far away.

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Rainfall Ruined

Sometimes, soulmates may meet, stay together until a task or life lesson is completed, and then move on. This is not a tragedy, only a matter of learning.
- Brian L. Weiss

Perhaps this would have been better if soulmates really were meant to part sometimes or at some time. Basis aside, the story promised something new, something that would go against the very premise of the drama, that soulmates don't always need to end up together. A situation where the lead doesn't necessarily end up with the person who promises to be his soulmate, or with anyone at all. As the episodes go on though, it becomes evident that this is through and through a "I'm the one for you and you're the one for me story".

The drama definitely starts out strong, the chemistry is clear, the premise is interesting and the characters seem empathetic and fleshed out. However, as the show goes on, small cracks begin to appear, and the story loses it's steam. The creators definitely want to create tension with the "who will the lead pick" storyline, but it's glaringly clear who he will. Filler scenes, uncharacteristic behaviour, unreasonable misunderstandings and unnecessary characters really drag down what could have been a solid story and the more you watch, the more uneventful it seems. Even the genuine conflicts that are presented at the beginning of the show as a roadblock for the potential couple are resoundingly solved within a matter of five minutes, but something that can be resolved with a quick conversation is dragged out for 3 episodes.

Interestingly, with a premise as promising as this, you expect some kind of follow through or proper explanations, but everything is ultimately chalked up to the rain gods playing their games and the very thing that led to this huge snowball is conveniently tossed aside (rather underwhelmingly) when the writers realise they've messed with it too much.

What should have been a simple story was needlessly contorted to create a drama that effectively lost all direction causing them to pull out a Hail Mary at the last moment, and let's just say this should have ended at episode 6, whether the story was complete or not.

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*Shrugs for a minute*

Let's sum up
1) It was cute
That sums it up.

No, no. I joke. Better summary
Episode 1 - Birthday party
Episode 2 - Jealousy
Episode 3 - Graduation party
Better..?

Seriously, I don't know how else I could sum it up or review it, it was cute and fun and a bit unnecessary unless you're in it purely for the cute moments between Rak and Fah.

The story was neatly wrapped up in Your Sky, and this was just an opportunity to see Thomas and Kong display their chemistry again. Just them. No one else got much valuable screentime in what minimal valuable screentime this had and huge portions of the episodes were behind the scenes stuff.
I kid you not, they actually broke out into a choreographed dance number at the end of episode 3, I'm not even joking.

It was all good fun, the episodes were so short they were over before I knew it, and yeah, it's a solid buffer series of sorts.

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Not my crush!

It's always great when you start a drama for one reason - and come out with a plethora of other likes. I'll just list them here because there was a lot to like about this.

1) The comedy - I started this for the comedy. I didn't have many expectations to be honest, keeping in mind both the trailer and Hi! By My Luck (the previous part of MuTeLuv) didn't quite have the kind and amount I expected respectively. But this one was actually good. Firstly, the entire cast brought the laughs, main or support. Second, the comedy didn't rely entirely on one type of comedy, they tried multiple genres and most of them worked!

2) The romance - I loved Parn and Nani in this. Don't know if it was the characters or the actors chemistry, whatever it was, they were a treat to watch on screen.

3) The characters - The great thing about comedy is that you can have several characters with varying personalities and have them all be funny. I especially loved how Wutkrai and Fay were written, four episodes is not a lot to have great characterization, but for four episodes, they did great. I wish Ploy and Phu had a bigger impact on me, but it happened in a different way than I thought it would..

.. finally. 4) The cast - I am impressed.
First with Parn. I've seen a bunch of her work, and she really brought some nuance and depth to her character that I very much appreciated.
Then Jaoying, I really liked her as Fay, the perfect mix of supportive friend and knock some sense into you onlooker. There was something about the character and her portrayal that made Fay so likeable.
I also thought Joke as Father was good - he was quite hilarious when it came to that.

Before I close out this section, my penultimate mention is Prem. Oh my sweet boy. His work on his last few previous shows had me convinced he could not act but he somehow proved me wrong here. You need a skill set to do comedy and he may have that! Again, his character didn't quite leave much of an impact on me, but I have a bit more hope now that with the right script and the right to move his face, he can bring something to the screen.

Finally - Nani! My gosh. He can do serious and comedy! His comedic timing was perfect, his character was written quirkily enough that you immediately like him and his soft and sweet side was on full display for four episodes. Plus the styling? Wow.

Of course there were a few things that I think could have been better. They weren't bad, per se, but they weren't exactly to my liking either. It's a me thing, so you may like them, but I'll just mention so all the information is in the review.

1) The story - now I didn't have much expectations from the story even going in, I just needed it to be coherent, which to their credit, it was. I just didn't like the way it flowed. Especially the last episode. It just felt like a Hail Mary they threw in to quickly wrap the story up, and while some of the plotlines were incredible (maybe not incredible, but they were good), a lot of them just didn't hit the right spots.

Not many negatives there I guess, so if you're looking for a fun, albeit slightly alarming plot, give this a try.

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The power of negotiations

I started for Lee Je Hoon, let's get that out of the way so anyone reading this isn't confused if the review turns into an appreciation post for him.

But he really does have a knack for picking the most interesting of scripts, and this was no exception. The complex world of mergers and acquisitions was still a little lost on me even towards the end, but it was very clear that doing the job required a lot of skill, talent, a bit of luck and a lot of charm. People skills, financial knowledge, business strategies and again, a whole lot of charm.

The story almost felt like it was split into two parts: one of the mergers and acquisitions, and the other of office politics. The thing about having a massive lead cast is that you require focus on every one of them, but that can also mean the story can feel fragmented at times, requiring links to make sure it flows well. I don't think they quite executed that link well with the writing, but doing it any different would've also meant a massive diversion from the original plot.
This may have just been my issue with it, because as a viewer, when you can see two distinct storylines, you tend to latch onto the one you like better. I latched onto the teamwork and personal connections storylines of the M&A team, which meant the office dynamics were a little technical and complicated to me.

But despite that, for the most part, they did a fantastic job making the technical terms really understandable and creating dynamic scenes that kept me on my toes. The masterful tacts, the unpredictable ways in which the story moved, the teamwork between the M&A team were all a delight to watch.

I do wish a little more time was spent on developing the characters but I also understand that it's hard to accomplish in such a plot heavy script. One thing I appreciated was that there were clear character roles - set protagonists and antagonists. Because betrayals and backstabbing are incredibly unnecessary in an already complicated plot, I'm glad it was not done.

The actors did an incredible job, all of them. Having set protagonists and antagonists meant they could fully explore their characters and character dynamics, and every main character was compelling to watch on screen. And Lee Je Hoon absolutely smashed it out of the park I mean, he was just incredible. He always embodies his characters completely and you can't help but root for his characters, that always stands true. Him, and the entire cast, honestly, I can rave about each of their performances.

Overall, this was a solid series with a few downs it always managed to recover from. It kept me interested throughout and definitely had plenty of its moments. They did set up a possible sequel.. I don't know but with or without it, I highly enjoyed the series.

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Exceeded my expectations

I'll admit it, I wasn't very impressed with the trailer, no, but the series truly exceeded all my expectations.

First off, story wise. I expected equal parts romance and mystery walking into this, they set it up that way in the first few episodes. I didn't get that, but I was still enthralled.
Would it have been nicer to explore the mystery and backstory more? For me, yes, but that's more about me wanting the side characters to have been more fleshed out. Otherwise? You can absolutely tell that the creators took a lot of care in creating an airtight story, where the past confusions, bitterness and anger plays into the present. The reveals in each episode seem obvious in retrospect, there's really only one way it could've played out, and it did exactly that way, but what made it interesting to watch was the characters.

Speaking of the characters, they were complex and red flags for the most part, I mean, I spent some episodes just wondering how on earth they could pull off all the things they did quite nonchalantly. But I'll be honest again, this was as entertaining as it was because they were that messy. All three of them, the leads. And so many side characters, but again, we didn't really get to see a lot of them.
But you still want to root for them! Most of the time, at points I didn't like any of them, but for the most part, you want to root for them. As individuals, as romantic partners, as siblings. They were morally grey and doing things that pushed the plot and their lives to be more complicated, right from the beginning and it's because the characters were written this way, that the story blossomed the way it did.
Let's address the weirdest side couple before we move on though. It was weird. Individually, those characters didn't add much to the plot any way (side characters again), but the love triangle there was somehow weirder than the love triangle between two literal twins and someone they both liked. I'll leave it at that, the absurdity and amazingness of it must be watched to be understood.

Finally, the acting. That's not true, because I did expect some good acting when I started, and I got it. Absolutely. Film and Namtan have good chemistry, they can act well, they pulled off their characters perfectly (Namtan did it twice over, lol), and so did all of the supporting characters.

Pluto truly did exceed my expectations, I did think that the episodes could have been shorter, but that would've meant the story would've been fragmented and hard to understand. At the end of the day, it was fun to watch and I genuinely enjoyed it.

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You are my dream

I'm not going to pretend like I haven't had some weird dreams, no. I've dreamt of some genuinely peculiar stuff, sitting on trees, dreams about crushing on someone, I've had ones with full storylines, sometimes better than a few dramas I've watched, lol.
Dreams are fascinating, and if your dreams tell you that your annoying childhood friend/ neighbour is your love interest, maybe you should take a chance, because you might end up discovering that it's a love you never realised even existed.

Such a brilliant concept they came up with, by the way, dreams and romance, because when you say fantasy, with or without it taking up too much screentime, the love story works. It could have been played into completely, or used a plot device for the romance, but either way, they set themselves up perfectly. I absolutely loved Ai and Yu's dynamics and chemistry, the gradual incline from being someone who annoys everything out of you to being someone you realise even with being annoying, is someone you want in your life forever. It's the slowest of slow burns, but never boring because you get to unpack some rather complex connections they have as a pair, having known each other since they were children.

But it was beautiful watching them become a romantic couple, it felt comforting and easy, how you want it to feel despite there being complications. The second couple were also great to watch, they had similar dynamics in some ways to Ai and Yu, but their love story was adorable as well.

In stark contrast, if you're watching this for the fantasy aspect.. it was quite underdeveloped, to say the least. Like I said before, this definitely worked as a romance, but the fantasy was merely a plot device to further the romance, it never felt like a plot of it's own. Even when they tried to flesh it out, it felt rushed and nothing more. But that's okay, it's alright, watch this as a romance and I can guarantee something great. Just don't expect much of the fantasy.

Even though at a point it felt like they could have concluded the story with fewer episodes, I enjoyed it throughout. A good story, a great set of characters, amazing couples and chemistry, I can't ask for more from a rom com, and as I finished, there was a feeling of satisfaction and that's saying a lot.

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More action than plot

I wouldn't say I'm displeased with the special, but this had more action sequences than required and less plot than it needed, and that's not really what I wanted after waiting for quite a while for it to become available online.

The story wasn't quite up there in terms of intrigue, while they did manage to close up a few loose ends from the series, the special really adds nothing to the actual story. An new storyline, new characters, and it felt more like a new series than a continuation. Even the thing I've come to expect most from specials, a ton of romance and updates on the couples and characters, didn't really come through. It isn't a deal breaker though, The Sign was also primarily an action and mystery series, I just personally expected a bit more.

The production though remained consistent. Several questions answered, but new questions arise, the mystery/action/fantasy elements didn't have the right balance yet again, and the storytelling was a bit up and down, but after a while and after watching The Sign, I've become accustomed to it.

There were quite a few elements that did feel odd and a bit out of place, though ultimately it was fun to watch the IDF gang, and Phaya and Tharn on screen again. The ending was quite good as well, once again left me with a ton of questions, but also very curious.

Enjoyable, a little underwhelming and a lot of action. A LOT.

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IF LOVE WAS ENOUGH, BREAKUPS WOULDNT EXIST.

This line is uttered by Earth in episode 11 and there could not be a more suitable tagline for the show than this. In life we are all separated into three factions, the few of us who have no idea what to do with our lives, the others who do know, but have no means to achieve them, and the rest who are perfectly clear about their life's timeline. The characters of this show can also be classified in these categories. None of their lives are perfect, even if it looks perfect on the outside. Filled with real life problems, the show is relevant, but underwhelming.

THE STORY:
The series follows the life of a group of people, some friends, some acquaintances and some relationships. Cheating, lying, and trust issues form the crux of the story. While some may argue that these problems are dealt with everyday in real life, it gets exhausting after a point, both in life and in the series. The title is very well suited as the characters contemplate everyday as to whether they must leave the friend zone, and enter a relationship. All in all, most relationships within this show were toxic to the extreme, with very few exceptions, them being Boom and Earth's friendship and the brief relationship between Boom and Bern. Good and Boyo's relationship begins with a one night stand, Boom and Tor deal with his insecurity towards her job, Amm and Bern have a give and take and never give back relationship, while Sam and Earth's relationship is ruined by Stud, Earth's snake of a friend. As the show progresses each of these problems, with their relationships only get worse. Boyo falls in love with Good, but he does not reciprocate because they had decided to keep it just purely a one night stand. Tor believes every rumor about his girlfriend without consulting her first, leading to their breakup. Amm doesn't believe Bern would be able to do anything but use her money, and they breakup. Sam cheats on Earth with Stud and they breakup. The rest of the story follows the aftermath of these events.

THE ACTING:
I've got to give props to every single actor who worked on this series. They've all played their characters very well. It takes serious skill to make you want to slap a character, but they've managed to do it. Special props to Singto, Namtan and Plustor. They really bought out every quality of their characters exceptionally.

THE PRODUCTION:
The production could have been handled better. It was very dissapointing to see the characters go through no actual growth throughout the series, and for the characters that did grow from their mistakes, it was ruined by making them return to their old habits.

THE OST:
Nothing to hit home about. Your standard OST.

THE POSITIVES:
Though this series had a ton of negativity, there were several positives spewed her and there. The friendship between Boom and Earth was just beautiful and not toxic at all like some other friendships in this series. Another great example was how Boyo handled her sexual assault attempt. She handled it extremely well and with the utmost bravery. Other than that there is nothing else to rave about with this series.

THE ENDING:
Among all the things to be dissapionted in within the series, the ending takes the cake. Every piece of character growth was thrown out the window just for them to end up exactly the way they started out, miserable. Boom and Tor start dating again, and Earth gets back together with Sam. The only person you could actually see the growth in at the end was Stud. Every other character does nothing but fall back into old habit for the sake of the storyline. Very dissapointing indeed.

Overall this show does a good job at keeping you reeled in with the drama, but it soon gets annoying and repetitive. The story doesn't exactly hold up well and if any lesson is to be learned through this series, they are certainely not good lessons. Hopefully all the characters get a half decent storyline in the second season and actually go through some character development. I hope this review helped anyone struggling with the decision on whether to watch this series. Thank You!

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I'll say it - that was not fun for me

I had such a hard time with this one - because you put together Off, Tay, Jorin, and a stacked support and guest list, in probably one of the most uncomfortable settings ever, only to pair it with my compulsive need to finish every series I start? I couldn't drop it, I couldn't stop it, I couldn't stop watching (I can't drop stuff) and I couldn't stop complaining because despite everything the series had going for it, this has got to be one of the dramas that definitely gave me the ick.

This isn't necessarily an opinion you have to agree with, after all, it is an opinion, but the concept of breaking people up for no real reason and with no real remorse.. is kind of iffy. Yes, yes, I started it despite knowing the premise and this may once again be on me, because I assumed they would be breaking up people with genuine issues, to the point of no reconciliation, but was that really what happened?
I tried to come up with explanations and reasonings as to why the company in question, Break Up Service, was a necessary evil. In certain cases, they truly did expedite a break up that would have happened sooner or later, but that was still no excuse for someone else to meddle in the relationship. In most other cases, it was simply a case of selfishness that led to a breakup, selfishness on the part of someone involved in the relationship, but in no shape or form needing to meddle.

You can tell I had a hard time with this.
I know, I know, its fiction, but fiction can make you uncomfortable to the extent that you want to speedplay through it right? The very basis of the show after the first couple of episodes began grating on me, and even the comedy began to feel forced. It still had its funny moments, but its hard to laugh when most of the humor revolves around breaking two people up. The writing became repetitive, I slowly lost interest, and ended up bingeing the last five or so episodes instead of watching them weekly because I could no longer pay attention.

The plot did pick up a bit in the second half, with the introduction of Destiny, a service that helps broken up couples get back together. The competition between them kind of did take away from my gripes, but the underlying uncomfortableness I always felt never really went away, not even until the last episode.

The characters were.. a mixed bag to say the least. Jeud, played by Jorin, was a good character, it was initially established that she is a smart and resourceful person who is also very empathetic, albeit a little naive. She should have been the perfect match to Off's Boss, who at the very beginning was a selfish, untoward jerk, and unfortunately, she wasn't, because Boss was still kind of a selfish jerk right until the end for me. I loved their reluctant chemistry though, that was one of the brightest spots in the series, their back and forth that ended in a surprisingly sweet relationship was truly a highlight. But the character development all but peeked out of the corner before the series ended, and it didn't really feel like either of them had much.
The side characters were mostly used for sole purposes, comforting the leads, creating jealousy in the leads, or as comic reliefs. They did steal the show at times for me though, especially Tay, Kapook, Jing Jing and Godji.
The guest characters were awesome. They were truly, truly awesome.

So while it wasn't terribly bad, it was certainly not what I wanted, and did not impress me as much as I wanted it to. Honestly, all the guest appearances and New's cameo in the finale may have been the high point for me, and even with all its positives, this just wasn't my cup of tea.

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Dance and romance come together in a badly written story

Was this supposed to be about Likay? Romance? Unnecessary drama? We'll never know because you can almost watch this as three different dramas - episodes 1 and 2 are kind of weird but in a nice way. We're introduced the characters, everyone's finding their legs and it's not bad, just kind of shaky and scrambled.

Episodes 3 to 6 1/2 are the actual best. You get a bunch of stuff you will never see in BLs - communication, exes being amicable, break-ups that didn't occur over misunderstandings, a new love interest respecting their crush's past relationships, an ex not being a controlling jerk, I could go on and on, it was truly so nice.

From episode 6 3/4 onwards - they went full Lakorn. Shocking CEO reveals, characters who just want to live their life being killed off for the shock factor, memorial concerts that are hijacked by love confessions, I hate it all. Just got worse and worse.

The story itself is such a mixed bag, it's supposed to follow a rising star as he practices with a Likay troupe so he can look professional in an upcoming series, where he plays a Likay performer. But Likay itself plays no role in the story beyond that - even being a part of someone's identity doesn't afford it enough importance. Again, it's only in the first couple of episodes that they talk about specifics, show us tons of performances and it's amazing.

Episodes 3 to 6 1/2 are devoted to romance. Honestly, very well done - for all the reasons I mentioned above, but also because it felt like three mature adults in a grounded relationship. There's a love triangle by the way, but it really had one of the best executions of a trope I usually hate.  It's quite hard to explain just how well all the love stories came off.. If it helps, I'm still convinced the MC had more chemistry with his ex than the ML. It was not the romantic chemistry or the banter or anything that got to me, it was the calm, grounded relationship they had.

I was pleased too soon though because episode 6 3/4 onwards - DRAMA. They leaned heavily into it and it ruined everything. Every piece of good writing was thrown out the window. Characters behaving like children, which is jaring going from wholesome adults to petulant children. I kind of wish it was just six episodes, I could've managed without knowing how the series in the series turned out. Which, if this is any indication, was probably pretty bad. This phase almost completely ruined the experience for me but I pushed through and it got a little better, just not in the way that the audience completely forgets everything they tried to sell us to create drama.

The acting is not bad, I did enjoy the Likay performances and the cinematography was well done too. It was just a very strange way to tell a story that could've been insanely straightforward. Even the characters who at times behaved completely out of character (thanks to the plot) were actually well written and just overall great people. At the end of the day, I wouldn't categorise this as a must watch, but for a one time watch, it wasn't completely terrible

(Note - the last two episodes do not currently have any subtitles but Thai auto-generated ones, and I'll remove this note once they do. Hopefully they do)

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The Love that Never Rose

This is no slow burn, this was a no burn.
It went on and on without actually going anywhere or towards anything.

The plot picks up with Ice returning to university after being dismissed a year ago, and Saint has been tasked with taking care of him, making his student life easier. They've actually known each other for a while though, not talked for several years because of something that happened in the past, but now that they're back together, Ice hates Saint, and Saint wants to win Ice back.

Their entire relationship has been riddled with problems since the beginning - everyone is opposed to them being together for some reason or the other, and the entire story is basically how they get over their past to heal as individuals and a couple, and face all the other obstacles to be with each other.

It's a well established, character driven plot, which always has the potential to be great! But my goodness the pace moved slower than a turtle. Whether it was the conflict resolution or the movement of their romance, it felt like I was the one moving heavy furniture across a room, each episode was a push and a pull, and so much of a struggle.

It's not the worst blunder, especially if you can write brilliant characters. Except..
They weren't really written to be the best.
No argument that both Ice and Saint were quite complex and flawed characters who had good development, but what use is it when the writers seem to have a trauma complex that neither of them can get past?
Saint is always perturbed by his father's presence in his life, which is suffocating, annoying and straight up infuriating. His father's actions made him lose the love of his life, and when he meets him again, the aforementioned love wants nothing to do with him. He has to gain back Ice's trust and defy his father's orders to ensure he doesn't get trapped again. And he was written well.

But Ice.. oh Ice.
He wasn't even the lead in his own story.
He meets someone he loves in a life where he has no one to love him, and gets told that this guy doesn't want him either. He is assaulted, thrown out of space that should've kept him safe, faces the consequences of someone else's actions and comes back to university as a broken man, only to continue breaking everyday because he's dating a POS, and the people who ruined his life the first time around are back in it.
The writers took a hold of this and went 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳?
The man could not catch a break, shots from every direction at all times, like the writers actually hated him. Everytime I saw a glimpse of growth, they just dumped more trauma on him to wreck him more and more until I could take it no more.
Honestly, I reduced my rating just based off of the fact that they absolutely butchered a character who should've carried the story.

If it wasn't for Ja's absolute knockout of a performance as Saint - adorable, charming and enigmatic - I would once again be rating this much lower, but thank you Ja. The rest of the actors were not bad performers by any means, but they barely had the chance to actually showcase their skills or flesh out their characters.
Especially Tae as Ice.. who was the actual main character and deserved much better writing than he got (as covered above) but he did a decent job.

The frustration you feel towards all the characters never really goes away though, because of the bad plot. The affinity towards some of them may come from the fact that they are leads, but the amount of conflict itself is off-putting. Did we really need the dirtbag ex? Or the movie shoot that spans for episodes in a bid to bring the leads closer, only to push them further apart? Or the father who has no boundaries and is an insensitive manipulative jerk just because he cares about his son? Noo
(On that note - let's also stop writing terrible parents a redemption arc? I pray all things in holy BL, let's stop giving horrid human beings redemption just because they shed a few crocodile tears)

The most frustrating thing is not the conflict, but how each one was handled. If you're going to have soooo many things they need to overcome, why not start with actually having the leads talk to each other? If your story is going to be riddled with problems that you can easily face together, why not do it? Or if it's your burden to bear, why avoid the confrontation? It's right in front of you!! Again, the character writing taking a serious blow, we get one step forward and ten steps back for 12 episodes.

The finale was the miserable now that tied it all together - a happy ending for all for the sake of giving one, or forgiveness I guess? This show was filled with horrid, horrid people who should have rotted in prison or in their own misery but yay to extreme pardoning complexes I guess.

This love should've set seven épisodes ago, but oh well. Don't waste your time on this and if you absolutely must? 2x speed is your friend.

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Overthinking - the 13th addition to the list

Overthinking is overrated. Do not do it.

This drama is a perfect example that shows you why you shouldn't do it because what should have been an 8/10 episode arc with minimal drama or angst turned into a minefield of bad decisions and unsaid feelings.

As ever, we started out perfectly - something that many J Dramas do without fail. We got a clear setup, a solid introduction to our leads and not much delay in seeing the plot take center stage. Episode after episode, we saw Suzume and Keishii check things off of Suzume's "10 Things to do Before I Turn 40" list, and we see their relationship blossom as an intersecting plot.

Their growth as a pairing was truly spectacular, it wasn't one sided, they communicated, they were both serious and fun loving, and the direction it was headed in made me believe that this would be a very wholesome series with one episode of angst. I was wrong.

There was an exponential downfall around episode 7 where all the things I admired about them just vanished into thin air. They didn't speak to each other for around three episodes at one point! Misunderstandings, miscommunication and SO MUCH OVERTHINKING. Three to four episodes of unnecessary angst and parallel plotlines that added nothing of substance except to the audience's annoyance. By the time the finale rolled around I was kind of tired because I had just spent 1/3rd of the series slowly falling out of love with two people I adored.

This needed around four episodes less than it actually had, and a much better second half. It was frustrating after a point, and not to say I'm disappointed.. because I'm extremely disappointed. And slightly angry.

If I could, I would probably skip episodes 9-11, and just watch the finale to wrap things up. I don't think doing this will cause any confusion either because not much of substance happened in those episodes. It's a shame really, because remove them from the equation and this is a brilliant drama. But unfortunately, this has become a mid, slightly forgettable piece of work and I wish it weren't.

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To judge me by the color of my bones

Green Bones is a cinematic masterpiece from start to finish, certainly, in terms of plot, acting, cinematography, but most in terms of leaving the audience contemplating upon and questioning their beliefs and morals.

The concept of green bones - that when one's remains contain the green bones, it is a display of their innate goodness. The concept in itself dictates that there is no way of knowing of a person is truly good during their life. But this is the belief that one of our leads, corrections officer Xavier Gonzaga lives with. After a past experience that left him believing there is only absolute goodness or absolute evil in the world, his entire worldview is shaken when he takes up his first assignment. Even then, he is resolute in his beliefs and carrying his prejudice, which has grown to become his safety blanket, he starts off on a path to ensure that our other lead, Domingo Zamora, never leaves the correctional facility.

But this steadfastness only lasts a while, because unlike he trusted, there is no way to tell if a human is good or evil, and there is no absolute on either end. We, along with Xavier, learn about Zamora's past, and all the decisions that led to him as he is in the present. The more he learns, the more he discovers, that Zamora may consider himself a bad person - but there is no way to judge him on the deeds he considered have made him a bad person.

All of this culminates in a harrowing last 30 minutes that changes Xavier as a person, and leaves the audience contemplating on the complex nature of humankind.

This was not an easy watch - it was mentally taxing to witness, not simply because of the scenes, but in their deeper understanding. It keeps you guessing and on the edge, and leaves you feeling completely drained. And honestly, it is worth the watch. It asks important questions, but doesn't really answer them, no, because they are for the audience to contemplate on. The acting completely complements this complex conundrum - both Dennis Trillo and Ruru Madrid give it their all.

I would highly recommend , but fair warning - this is not something that is an easy watch, and it surely lingers on your mind.

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