This review may contain spoilers
Mess and mediocrity
An “interesting” concept: merge 3 stories into 1 show, involving 3 main couples, 3 secondary couples and a massive 26-member cast. What do you get? A mediocre mess.
I liked several things about this show: (i) that, on average, it wasn’t as bad as “We Are”, (ii) parts of performances of Poon, Louis and JJ, (iii) giving each main couple roughly the same screen time and focusing on it (no favorites this time!), (iv) some – but very few – attempts at comedy. Not much, I admit, and by far not enough to outweigh the things I didn’t like.
First of all, it was a mistake to produce a 24 episode long show with so many separate plots. Storywise there’s no connection nor need for a connection between the stories of Arc and Arm, Yotha and Gun as well as Faifa and Wine – not to mention the secondary couples. The show tries to create a connection – the titular “Perfect 10 Liners”, the unnamed university attended by most of the main and supporting characters, as well as personal interactions and relations between some of the characters – but hardly any of that matters for the individual stories. The real problem is that none of those stories gets time to breathe – each is given 8 episodes only and has to share that time with a secondary couple. This results in characters being shallower than it’s usual, as we learn even less about them than it is normally the case; basically the only thing we get is what the biggest problem of each main character is (or was at the start of the series).
My main issue with the plot is that it focuses on solving each of the aforementioned problems in the same way: by getting each character a boyfriend. Initially I thought that the show was a tad less superficial and it considered love to be an answer and solution to every imaginable problem, but I was wrong; it’s not love, it’s finding a boyfriend. You were dumped by a girl? Get a boyfriend. Are you afraid of the dark because of a traumatic experience? Get a boyfriend. Have you been in a loveless relationship? Get a boyfriend. You’ve got family issues with your mom and bros? Get a boyfriend. You broke up with your girlfriend because you got a crush on her brother? How about getting a boyfriend?
The plot is shallow, but what about the writing? Well, it’s even worse. On one hand the show tries to be mature and deal with issues like trauma, unrequited love, inability to love, family etc.; on the other hand the show tries to be lighthearted and funny. What we get is a mix of “adult” problems, bad jokes and mostly dreadful attempts at comedy, which makes it impossible to take the show seriously. This combination simply doesn’t work, it’s like the show was making fun of the – supposedly important – issues it wants to address. The lowest the show got when it comes to writing was in ep. 13-15, with the peak of the Yotha-Gun storyline; that was some MAME-level of bad, cringy writing, meant to generate involvement and induce emotions in the audience, but instead annoying and sending all the wrong messages about non-consensual behavior (Yotha exploiting Gun's hesitation and indecisiveness to satisfy his lust), using violence, lack of communication etc.
As for the performances:
- Force – wooden and emotionless, as always,
- Book – lackluster and boring,
- Perth – visibly uncomfortable with the role,
- Santa – switching between a goofy infant smiling more than the Joker (that’s a description of Thomas Teetut Chungmanirat in “Your Sky” which I hereby borrow from allinforfantasy and their “Your Sky” review) and a teen displaying true dread (those were the only parts of his performance I actually bought),
- Junior – annoying with the exaggerated jokes, quips and smiles; he was much better showing Faifa’s serious and vulnerable side,
- Mark – mundane and uninspired.
No surprises, really, since no one in the main cast – maybe with the exception of Junior – can actually act. As for the supporting cast, I’ll voice one complaint: Aungpao, who really can act, was again relegated to some unimportant, secondary role.
All in all this was easier to watch than “We Are”, but when it comes to what the show actually offered – it was disappointing and low quality.
I liked several things about this show: (i) that, on average, it wasn’t as bad as “We Are”, (ii) parts of performances of Poon, Louis and JJ, (iii) giving each main couple roughly the same screen time and focusing on it (no favorites this time!), (iv) some – but very few – attempts at comedy. Not much, I admit, and by far not enough to outweigh the things I didn’t like.
First of all, it was a mistake to produce a 24 episode long show with so many separate plots. Storywise there’s no connection nor need for a connection between the stories of Arc and Arm, Yotha and Gun as well as Faifa and Wine – not to mention the secondary couples. The show tries to create a connection – the titular “Perfect 10 Liners”, the unnamed university attended by most of the main and supporting characters, as well as personal interactions and relations between some of the characters – but hardly any of that matters for the individual stories. The real problem is that none of those stories gets time to breathe – each is given 8 episodes only and has to share that time with a secondary couple. This results in characters being shallower than it’s usual, as we learn even less about them than it is normally the case; basically the only thing we get is what the biggest problem of each main character is (or was at the start of the series).
My main issue with the plot is that it focuses on solving each of the aforementioned problems in the same way: by getting each character a boyfriend. Initially I thought that the show was a tad less superficial and it considered love to be an answer and solution to every imaginable problem, but I was wrong; it’s not love, it’s finding a boyfriend. You were dumped by a girl? Get a boyfriend. Are you afraid of the dark because of a traumatic experience? Get a boyfriend. Have you been in a loveless relationship? Get a boyfriend. You’ve got family issues with your mom and bros? Get a boyfriend. You broke up with your girlfriend because you got a crush on her brother? How about getting a boyfriend?
The plot is shallow, but what about the writing? Well, it’s even worse. On one hand the show tries to be mature and deal with issues like trauma, unrequited love, inability to love, family etc.; on the other hand the show tries to be lighthearted and funny. What we get is a mix of “adult” problems, bad jokes and mostly dreadful attempts at comedy, which makes it impossible to take the show seriously. This combination simply doesn’t work, it’s like the show was making fun of the – supposedly important – issues it wants to address. The lowest the show got when it comes to writing was in ep. 13-15, with the peak of the Yotha-Gun storyline; that was some MAME-level of bad, cringy writing, meant to generate involvement and induce emotions in the audience, but instead annoying and sending all the wrong messages about non-consensual behavior (Yotha exploiting Gun's hesitation and indecisiveness to satisfy his lust), using violence, lack of communication etc.
As for the performances:
- Force – wooden and emotionless, as always,
- Book – lackluster and boring,
- Perth – visibly uncomfortable with the role,
- Santa – switching between a goofy infant smiling more than the Joker (that’s a description of Thomas Teetut Chungmanirat in “Your Sky” which I hereby borrow from allinforfantasy and their “Your Sky” review) and a teen displaying true dread (those were the only parts of his performance I actually bought),
- Junior – annoying with the exaggerated jokes, quips and smiles; he was much better showing Faifa’s serious and vulnerable side,
- Mark – mundane and uninspired.
No surprises, really, since no one in the main cast – maybe with the exception of Junior – can actually act. As for the supporting cast, I’ll voice one complaint: Aungpao, who really can act, was again relegated to some unimportant, secondary role.
All in all this was easier to watch than “We Are”, but when it comes to what the show actually offered – it was disappointing and low quality.
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