ThamePo Heart That Skips a Beat Episode 9
3 people found this review helpful
"ThamePo" keeps surprising - and in a positive way. This episode in particular strikes a nearly perfect balance between the BL and non-BL plotlines. The slow crawl from prior episodes finally pays off with a long-awaited transition to a full blown Thame-Po relationship. William - again - shows his firm grip on the character, who can be dominating, caring and sulking, all within several minutes. Thame may not be a แฟน for everyone, but Po calmly and happily accepts this 'invasion' of love and care. Watching those two spending time together as boyfriends was delightful.
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ThamePo Heart That Skips a Beat Episode 1
3 people found this review helpful
With an interesting take on how to start a BL show, "ThamePo" draws curious parallels with real-life music industry. William's performance is simply delicious, nuanced and commanding at the same time. Est's more withdrawn performance leaves me with the impression that this particular ship should be called WilliamEst. Also, it's always good to see the LYKN boys in action.
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ThamePo Heart That Skips a Beat Episode 8
2 people found this review helpful
Free of most MARS content, this episode wonderfully focuses on two interactions: Thame's and Jun's and Thame's and Po's. With great visuals as canvas we first see two friends battle it out and later the titular relationship ingnited - at long last. The back and forth between Thame and Po is very different, not just stylistically, from the game Thame and Jun play, but both are equally enjoyable. William - again - shines in both Thame's confrontation with Jun as well as during Thame's meeting with Po. When William and Est are on screen, time slows down and everything becomes dream-like. It's been a while a BL episode left me with so many warm, fuzzy feelings - all due to WilliamEst magic.
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The Heart Killers Episode 3
2 people found this review helpful
There's some progress since ep. 1 in terms of cringe, however delivery remains poor and - we're still at 0% love in this boys love series. The sex fantasy elements have switched from campy to schlocky, which is not an improvement. There's something charming about Dunk's failed attempts at acting and comedy, and - what became a tradition by now - I give him a pass.
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With a nice mix of lighter (Mon's pouting, teachers getting closer) and heavier (Shane's family problems) topics the series continues its streak of good episodes - with solid writing and decent performances. What I enjoyed most was the Kit-Shane stuff, especially the beach scene and what Kit said there - basically what everyone in his position says or wants to say (but lacks the courage). I liked Kit's reaction to Shane's call: he got up in the middle of the night and drove to his soon-to-be bf to help him. That's what a relationship is about (and what BLs often neglect to emphasize) and the show presented it in a very natural way. BTW: Kit is the only character who has actually grown since the series started (from a seemingly spoiled kid with problems to someone who still has problems, but tries to solve some of them and cares for the one he loves), but not the only one who has potential for growing - hope we'll see more character development in this show.
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Ep. 10 offers a reasonable balance of "the vampire stuff" and the BL aspect - with me enjoying the latter more than the former. There are some decent scenes with Joss and Fluke on their own, as Mark and Tong try to cope with several things at once. What I liked most, was Mark being there for Tong and supporting him - during Tonkla's funeral and afterwards. BLs often ommitt this aspect of relationships - supporting each other, facing trouble together; here we get plenty of that and it's a welcome change. As for "the vampire stuff" - that's not why I'm watching the show, so I care little about it; it was okay, i guess. The plot twist being announced by omnious music (when Mark and Tong enter Thara's courtyard) made me laugh, though.
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Well-paced and smartly written, ep. 1 introduces the cast and sets the stage for the series - doing what any first episode of a new show should do and doing it the right way. The camera stays the longest with Mick and Luke, which might indicate that they will be the "main main" couple - unfortunately their performances aren't the strongest (Mick, in particular, seems more wooden than his character requires) and I didn't sense any chemistry between them (so far). The other main couple had a less rocky start, with Chokun (so far) being much more interesting than in "My Love Mix-Up!" and Aston devouring him with his eyes; the chemistry is there and it's good. What I enjoyed most, however, happened elsewhere, with Aun's and Ciize's small performances creating Shane's household (giving it what BL often lack: a lived-in feel) and with both supporting couples hitting the ground running. Papang unpacked his comedic skills, Pod radiated pure warm charm while Ken and in particular Paul (visibly enjoying himself) portrayed the not-so goofy sidekicks, commenting story developments like a Greek chorus.
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The show's solid start relies heavily on good visuals (including some creative cinematography), decent pacing and clever presentation of the plot. The growing feeling of dread is there, helped by a complete lack of comedy. Performances are by far the weakest part of the show's opener, although Gun and Title should be commended for their efforts. These are, unfortunatelly, not matched by Dew (pretentious), Pahn (blank) nor Pond (trying hard, but failing). Ep. 1 did, however, encourage me to continue watching.
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Despite its shortcomings the show seems to be getting better - either that or I'm somewhat used to it by now. Joss was much better this time, as a fish - pardon: vampire out of water, tasting food for the first time. I also like when Mark seems softer and more vulnerable; I think Joss managed to portray that quite nicely. More of JossGawin, less of the mostly vague and probably convoluted vampire stuff - that's the recipe the show should keep following.
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After a strong start - a solid continuation. The pace is on point, the lighthearted atmosphere is there, and we learn more about the main couple (first fight! relatable reactions! communication!) and the secondary couple. And the dance moves - watch it just for that.
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After a solid opener, ep. 2 surprises with an unexpected venture into the past of the main characters. While I applauded the lack of comedy in ep. 1, I'm not entirely against using it in this show - hence I'm fine with what ep. 2 did in this regard. Dew and Pahn keep annoying me and their story doesn't interest me in the slightest. Gun and - surprisingly - Pond were both the strong points of this episode. Day's and Ozone's relationship is more complex than I expected it to be, also presented in a skillful way - thanks to both the writing of the episode and the performances of both actors. This is by far the best I've seen of Pond - ever. Well done, gentlemen.
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Quite an uneven start this was. Take the visuals: on one hand most of the CGI looks low budget and the "special effects" look funny; on the other hand there was some clever usage of light and framing in several scenes making them look good - and Joss' physique is no CGI nor AI, it's pure gold. Same with the performances: Fluke was pretty solid during the entire episode, while Joss fluctuated a lot: in some scenes or even shots and frames he was fittingly hot&sexy or cool and manly or even lusting for Tong's blood - but there was plenty of scenes, shots and frames where his performance was missing the beat, becoming unintentionally funny. It's too early to tell whether the show will find its footing (and when) or implode (one way or the other); clearly the potential for both outcomes is there.
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The Heart Killers Episode 1
1 people found this review helpful
This is clearly another of Jojo's fantasies - visual style, sets, focus on sexual tension and sex itself all point to that. Since the emphasis is put on those things, story becomes unimportant and it's presentation makes it harder to take it seriously. On one hand - that's not really bad, as most BLs are desexualized and should focus more on relations between main characters and forming of their relationships. I stated this many times in comments and reviews: in a BL setting of the story is in service to the main plot - the guys becoming a couple and/or being in a relationship. That's what the story should be about. On the other hand - I'm not sure how future episodes will go about the story, will it be sidelined (will we get ep. 1 on repeat) for the sake of more visuals, or will there actually some development.Performances: Khaotung is good, First is alright, Joong felt off and weird (no idea why, normally he's okay), while Dunk (still) can't act and gave a weird, unconvincing performance. I'm used to that already, so it bothered me far less than it should.
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This show seems to be going from bad to worse. Started watching it hoping to see a BL, and - so far (after 3 episodes) - I see it's almost entirely a mystery/horror show. Nothing against it, but it's not what I wanted to watch nor what was advertised. Furthermore, we got strong hints (more than hints actually) that the supposed main couple (Peem and Khem) won't be based on present day same-sex attraction - it'll be some sort of continuation of an opposite-sex relationship from the past, which was interrupted by WWII, with both partners reincarnated as males. This sounds like stuff from shows produced 5-10 years ago, when it was standard practice to deny the characters are gay (remember lines like "I'm not into men, it's just you"?); they were always straight, falling for their childhood friends with whom they had a strong emotional bond etc. etc. Everything but gay. Reincarnated from female to male, but still in love with the same person as in previous life - sounds exactly the same. As for the supporting/side couple: by ep. 3 they started talking to each other - that's all; at this rate they'll become a thing in the last scene of the last episode. Also: tonaly this show became a mess. Ep. 1 was mostly consistent in this regard, being rather dark, even somber, sad and scary. Ep. 2 started to change that, adding more lighthearted elements; by ep. 3 we have serious and scary next to goofy and silly. Like I said: a mess.
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Poorly paced and weirdly scripted, ep. 2 was a whopping 77 minutes long - with content only for about 45 minutes. In all that time there was one, very brief moment where the story was vaguely hinting at the support couple - that's all. Keng's stunning looks are an asset of the show, but when he opens his mouth - the spell is broken; Namping is sort of there, but his "damsel in distress" portrayal is hard to watch. However, not all hope is lost: First did a good job in both ep. 1 and 2; right now I'm watching this show because of him.
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