This review may contain spoilers
5$ and a dream turned into a masterpiece
How to even start putting into words how I am feeling after finishing this series? It's like I'm saying goodbye to school friends at the last day of school, unsure if we will ever meet again. After spending so many weeks laughing, crying, rolling my eyes, screaming my lungs out, blushing and absolutely having the time of my life - it has come to an end.For me the story, the chemistry of the actors, the cinematography as well as the OST were on point! They really had a 5$ budget and a dream and they made a better series than many high budget series in the industry.
All the actors did a phenomenal job in portraying their characters and giving the 2D versions of the novel so much heart and soul making it impossible not to love them, yes even Wang Shuo. The characters in this novel are complex, especially Chi Cheng, Wu Suo Wei and Wang Shuo. If you aren't into grey or complex/multidimensional characters, it will be a hard time for you to understand them and their motivations/behaviors, so if you rather stick to more "simple" characters (which is not a critique) then I would recommend another series. Their personalities made this series even more intriguing, so if you like some scheming little characters, this is the show for you! (how i'm gonna miss my little scheming Da Bao :((((( )
!! SPOILER !! Eventhough I liked every single episode, the last one was really disappointing and underwhelming for me. It was only 33min long, so it felt really rushed and weird. Normally the final episodes are the longest ones so that the story and all the characters have their moment and the story gets a satisfying closure, but not here. When Chi Cheng came out of prison, I really thought he would surprise Wei Wei by appearing in front of him and they would get a heartfelt moment, where they confessed how much they missed and loved e/o - buuuuuuut no, we got them playing at a water fountain...
After the 2nd half of the show when WSW and CC were officially a couple, we barely got any kisses or intimate moments. I'm not asking for full on NC scenes, but some kisses would've been good - especially in the last episode. like come on give me some spice here!!
But all in all I really liked the series and will probably rewatch it 100x because I'm not even close to ready to say actually goodbye to Chi Cheng, Wu Suo Wei, Guo Cheng Yu and Jiang Xiao Shuai
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What a waste of time
The story had so much potential, but unfortunately it didn't live up to the expectations the actors and their agency made me have.The plot was foreseeable and the characters themselves didn't have much of a character development, it felt very much stuck and going around in circles.
Personally I was looking forward to seeing JimmyOhm and NetJJ's stories the most as their stories seemed the most interesting (imo) when the trailer came out, but alas their screen time was so short that it felt that they were being more of a guest role rather than a support role which i found a bummer thus making it feel rushed by the end. During their screen time, the 4 actors did an amazing job and were really captivating, that's why i was even more sad and disappointed when they didn't get the time they deserved to showcase their talent even more.
I dropped it early on, but continued "watching" some parts occasionally simply because i wanted to know if at some point there would still be some development or breaking point for the characters, but no.
For the budget and the whole promo domundi was doing for this series, it was quite a let down.
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what does the director do professionally ?
It was one of this year’s series that I was most looking forward to, especially because I love BillyBabe who nailed their roles in the Sign, so it was only natural that I was excited to finally see them back on the big screen after waiting for so long (nearly 2 years to be precise). The trailer and the pilot had me super hyped as it looked like the series had everything to be another hit : a story of love that transcends time and space, beautiful traditional costumes, a couple that has insane chemistry and according to thai netz a promising director.Nonetheless, I have to say that I got thoroughly disappointed with the series, well at least the 3 episodes that I watched. It was really difficult to get into the story and I’m one of those people that if I don’t get hooked by the 2nd episode, it’s very rare that I can pull through until the very end. Because it was BillyBabe I gave it a chance until episode 3 and it simply didn’t convince me to keep watching and spending my time on something that I'm not thoroughly enjoying. The plot had so much potential, but the execution wasn't up to my standards, so with a rather heavy heart I had to drop it…
What threw me off most of the time were the dialogues/monologues. They felt extremely stiff and unnatural, especially Kaewta’s parts. I don’t know if the script wasn’t good or if it was Babe’s execution as well as the director’s guidance that were lacking, but you could literally see that it was acted (yes i know they are acting, but it's the actors job to make us feel part of it all) and that prevented me to really immerse myself into the story and the characters.
From the few episodes I’ve watched as well as some of the clips I’ve seen on tiktok, Billy and Heng are doing a phenomenal job! Babe’s dancing looks great, but I was expecting more improvement in his acting. When I’m looking at Kaewta’s expressions and the way he talks, it feels like I’m looking at Tharn… I truly see no difference in acting between these 2 - and no I’m not hating but just stating my personal opinion as someone who can objectively judge my faves and say that more acting workshops would have been useful.
Another factor that made me drop the series was the editing as well as the camera angles, especially those random zoom ins on the faces. Considering how nice the trailer/pilot looked, it’s weird how totally different the series’s color scheme and cinematography is…
And out of curiosity I also watched the episode with the NC because BillyBabe did those scenes beautifully in their previous series “The Sign”, but in this one you can see that this was completely improvised and had no professional guidance from a director/coordinator. It looked (imo) vulgar and had nothing to do with aesthetic or good directing. I felt uncomfortable watching it and not in the “omg i’m blushing” type of way, but more in the “wtaf are they doing?” sense. The way the scenes were cut was simply a disaster; the way they jumped from one scene to the other, no coherency or fluidity (like why am I seeing Kaewta's/Babe’s ass in front of my salad when he was just one second ago drawing Khun Yai/Billy??)… i’m sorry but i’ve seen adult videos which were more aesthetic and better directed than this one. I honestly feel sorry for BillyBabe because they deserved to have a nice series with a good plot and director, but this one really isn’t doing it for me.
As a side note, for a director so widely praised by both the cast and Thai netizens, my expectations were understandably high. Yet after watching these few episodes, I find myself questioning not only his reputation, but also the public’s taste and discernment.
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