This review may contain spoilers
Only Friends But Without Its Soul
I wanna preface this by saying 3 things:
1 - I enjoyed season 1. It was messy and convoluted and, yes it did have some issues (the series' treatment of Boston and how it portrayed Cheum as some sort of saint) but it was fun to watch.
2 - I like the cast. I knew all main actors from previous work they've done and I think they have enough skill to carry a series like Only Friends.
3 - There's nothing inherently wrong with producing a mediocre series.
This being said Only Friends: Dream On sucks.
First and foremost because it lied to us. The teaser and the trailer and the very fact it carries on the name "Only Friends" all indicated the same messiness, complicated relationships, multiple character love connections, dark themes and overall vibe as the 1st season. None of this was proven true.
The relationships seem at first to be complicated but when you look into it, and especially as the drama progresses, you can tell the issues between the characters are either silly (like the not-kiss kiss drama), repetitive (like Rome and Raffy running into the same unaddressed problem multiple times and nothing coming out of it) or just rushed through (like Pete's entire thing about the video and the money). Not only that but the characters, even when jutified in their issues, are explored in such a shallow manner that you can't even properly connect with them, let alone find them relatable. And this happens even with season 1 characters who ABSOLUTETY DID NOT face this issue before. It feels like they were just brought in for hype and then entirely butchered before our eyes (especially Boston).
Then, as if not enough, the relationships are shallower than baby pool water, without GMMTV actually having the guts, in a series like this, to make ANYONE even kiss outside of their company assigned couple (which is a whole other issue, with them panning to the weirdos who think their favs should be locked from the outside world so they can only interact with each other and feed the fantasy that they have in mind because these people don't even consider them humans, just dolls that should play the part for their entertainment):
1 - Arnold and Tua could've had a good development exploring the consequences of falling in love with a friend and how the dynamic change might be awkward or cause confusion and you might need a period to adapt to it or even not be able to adapt at all. Instead all we got was a mild conflict and skipping ahead to wanting to spend their entire lives together #LoveWins.
2 - Rome and Raffy could've had such an interesting exploration of how your family and your relationship with them affects the way you perceive love, want love, experience love and even believe yourself to deserve it. I'll still give them the point that their relationship was the best development and that Aou and Boom pulled some massive weight to try and make it work but their skills are almost entirely wasted on that script. Justice for my babies, please.
3 - I don't even know where to begin with JackDean because it was so utterly boring and atrocious but I think if there's one thing to be said is that they had a good opportunity to explore the fact that love itself isn't enough to make a relationship work and that, sometimes, even if 2 ppl love each other, they'll never make a good match and instead it was just like "you should always fight for love, no matter how toxic it is" #FéNasMalucas.
And that's not even getting me started on how they skipped over domestic violence and totally used it as just a plot device or how Jack's alcoholism AND EVEN RAY'S (which had previously been addressed in a meaningful way) were both treated like a character accessory that is nothing but a silly personality quirk. As someone who's watched more than one close relative struggle with it, I cannot tell you how disgusted I am in words that are anything but a string of swears.
But, last but not least, because this wasn't bad enough already, they had to make the script a mess (which, truly, is the only real kind of mess we get in this series) that makes no damn sense and where everything that happens just happens so that the series can get the characters to a specific purpose. No rhyme or reason.
It just overall feels rushed and lazy and ridding off of the hype of season 1. Not even the actors, no matter how much they tried, could save it. And it's honestly a shame.
So what do I take? Boston and Nick getting their closure, which was only good because Mark Pakin himself wrote the dialogue for that (and the RomeRaffy sex scenes that AouBoom put their entire p**** into). That's it.
Needless to say I don't recommend it and I hope I never have to watch it again (and yes that includes that stupid cliffhanger they left with Great at the end, please someone save him from this monstrocity).
1 - I enjoyed season 1. It was messy and convoluted and, yes it did have some issues (the series' treatment of Boston and how it portrayed Cheum as some sort of saint) but it was fun to watch.
2 - I like the cast. I knew all main actors from previous work they've done and I think they have enough skill to carry a series like Only Friends.
3 - There's nothing inherently wrong with producing a mediocre series.
This being said Only Friends: Dream On sucks.
First and foremost because it lied to us. The teaser and the trailer and the very fact it carries on the name "Only Friends" all indicated the same messiness, complicated relationships, multiple character love connections, dark themes and overall vibe as the 1st season. None of this was proven true.
The relationships seem at first to be complicated but when you look into it, and especially as the drama progresses, you can tell the issues between the characters are either silly (like the not-kiss kiss drama), repetitive (like Rome and Raffy running into the same unaddressed problem multiple times and nothing coming out of it) or just rushed through (like Pete's entire thing about the video and the money). Not only that but the characters, even when jutified in their issues, are explored in such a shallow manner that you can't even properly connect with them, let alone find them relatable. And this happens even with season 1 characters who ABSOLUTETY DID NOT face this issue before. It feels like they were just brought in for hype and then entirely butchered before our eyes (especially Boston).
Then, as if not enough, the relationships are shallower than baby pool water, without GMMTV actually having the guts, in a series like this, to make ANYONE even kiss outside of their company assigned couple (which is a whole other issue, with them panning to the weirdos who think their favs should be locked from the outside world so they can only interact with each other and feed the fantasy that they have in mind because these people don't even consider them humans, just dolls that should play the part for their entertainment):
1 - Arnold and Tua could've had a good development exploring the consequences of falling in love with a friend and how the dynamic change might be awkward or cause confusion and you might need a period to adapt to it or even not be able to adapt at all. Instead all we got was a mild conflict and skipping ahead to wanting to spend their entire lives together #LoveWins.
2 - Rome and Raffy could've had such an interesting exploration of how your family and your relationship with them affects the way you perceive love, want love, experience love and even believe yourself to deserve it. I'll still give them the point that their relationship was the best development and that Aou and Boom pulled some massive weight to try and make it work but their skills are almost entirely wasted on that script. Justice for my babies, please.
3 - I don't even know where to begin with JackDean because it was so utterly boring and atrocious but I think if there's one thing to be said is that they had a good opportunity to explore the fact that love itself isn't enough to make a relationship work and that, sometimes, even if 2 ppl love each other, they'll never make a good match and instead it was just like "you should always fight for love, no matter how toxic it is" #FéNasMalucas.
And that's not even getting me started on how they skipped over domestic violence and totally used it as just a plot device or how Jack's alcoholism AND EVEN RAY'S (which had previously been addressed in a meaningful way) were both treated like a character accessory that is nothing but a silly personality quirk. As someone who's watched more than one close relative struggle with it, I cannot tell you how disgusted I am in words that are anything but a string of swears.
But, last but not least, because this wasn't bad enough already, they had to make the script a mess (which, truly, is the only real kind of mess we get in this series) that makes no damn sense and where everything that happens just happens so that the series can get the characters to a specific purpose. No rhyme or reason.
It just overall feels rushed and lazy and ridding off of the hype of season 1. Not even the actors, no matter how much they tried, could save it. And it's honestly a shame.
So what do I take? Boston and Nick getting their closure, which was only good because Mark Pakin himself wrote the dialogue for that (and the RomeRaffy sex scenes that AouBoom put their entire p**** into). That's it.
Needless to say I don't recommend it and I hope I never have to watch it again (and yes that includes that stupid cliffhanger they left with Great at the end, please someone save him from this monstrocity).
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