Joylinerennie

I thought You Maniac was okay. The chemistry was there, the actors looked good, and there were moments I genuinely enjoyed. But the more I think about the series, the more I feel that the writing let it down.

My biggest problem was how repetitive the episodes became. It felt like every episode followed the same formula: a crisis, an emotional misunderstanding, Moth struggling to make a decision, and then a friend stepping in to tell him what to do.

Rinse and repeat.

At some point, I started wondering whether Moth was ever going to make a decision for himself.

There are so many examples, but let’s start with Mes.

Mes wasn’t even Moth’s ex. He was his first love, the university senior Moth had feelings for, who rejected him when Moth finally acted on those feelings. That experience supposedly played a big part in shaping Moth’s attitude towards relationships.

So when Mes returns, I expected the show to explore what that rejection had done to Moth and, more importantly, how much he had grown since then.

Instead, we get more jealousy, uncertainty and emotional games.

Moth deliberately tells Dean they can’t see each other while he’s working on the painting for Mes’s gallery, apparently to make Dean miss him. Really? Is this how we’re communicating now? After everything that’s happened, I wanted to see some actual emotional maturity, not more testing and pushing people away.

And what was the situation with Mes supposed to achieve? I was left wondering how much of Moth’s past we were actually meant to understand and whether he had genuinely moved on or simply found someone else to distract himself.

Then there’s Dean’s father’s death.

This should have been one of the most emotionally important parts of the series. Dean loses his father, and his grief is complicated by the revelations about his father’s affair and the damage that has done to his understanding of his family.

But instead of allowing us to really sit with Dean’s pain, Moth struggles with the fact that Dean isn’t showing enough emotion. He questions why Dean doesn’t seem sadder, when people grieve differently.

Then, when Dean pushes him away and their relationship falls apart during an already devastating time, Moth turns to Pun for advice. Once again, someone else has to help him decide what to do. Pun essentially has to convince him to stay and be there for Dean.

Argh! Why does Moth need a pep talk every time he has to navigate an emotionally difficult situation?

And this is where the contrast between the two characters becomes particularly noticeable. Dean, for all his flaws, is generally able to show Moth affection, care and love without needing his friends to explain how to do it. He makes mistakes, certainly, but he often seems more capable of showing up emotionally for Moth than Moth is for him.

Then we reach the ending.

Moth gets an opportunity to pursue his artistic ambitions in New York. It’s a big decision, and naturally it creates uncertainty for the relationship. But after all the back and forth, the series jumps three years into the future and tells us they’re still together.

Lovely. But HOW?

How did they manage those three years? What did the distance do to their relationship? How did Moth grow as an artist? How did Dean cope with being apart from him? What changed between them?

We get the outcome, but very little of the journey.

A three-year time jump could have been a wonderful opportunity to show how much these characters had grown individually and as a couple. Instead, it feels like the show skips over the very development I wanted to see.

And that’s really my main criticism: there was too much repetition and not enough progression.

I don’t need characters to get everything right. I actually enjoy flawed characters, messy relationships and people making questionable decisions. But I do need to see them learn something from those experiences.

With Moth especially, I wanted to see him become more emotionally self-aware, communicate without playing games and make decisions without constantly relying on Pun or someone else to guide him.

The series had the chemistry, the attractive cast and some genuinely promising emotional material. But chemistry alone cannot carry a story.

And this brings me to GMMTV.

They really need to step up their television productions. They cannot keep relying on attractive actors, good-looking pairings, styling and aesthetics to carry a series. Pretty cinematography is lovely, but it cannot compensate for repetitive storytelling and underdeveloped characters.

The script, direction and overall production need to be stronger. Give us better character development, more thoughtful storytelling and emotional moments that are properly earned.

Because I want more than two beautiful actors looking good together. I want a story that makes me care about what happens to them.

A decent watch, but ultimately frustrating. The chemistry was there. The character development needed to catch up. GMMTV, please give us better stories to go with those pretty faces.