4
10
1
1
This review may contain spoilers
His Manchild Sorn (uncut version with watch suggestions)
Overall: though we heard characters say Jun pranks/ed Sorn, we never saw that. Instead we saw Sorn being a manchild and one sided bullying/intimate partner emotional abuse. Nothing was ever Sorn's fault, it was always someone elses, there was zero responsibility-taking. With some tweaks, I would have rated this much higher. The series is adapted from the book "Nai Hia Bok Mai Chop Dek" by Nang Sao Phop which I have read but I reviewed the series on its own merits (notes about how they mucked up the adaptation at the end of this review). 12 episodes about 50 minutes each. Airing uncut on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/my-stubborn-episode-1-1vk3bdn96z8?lang=en_us and cut on MFlow's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b12PV1m9pP8&ab_channel=MFlowEntertainment MFlow also produced: Time, Beyond the Star, Tin Tem Jai, AiLongNhai, Second Chance and Coffee Melody.
Content Warnings: non/dub con kissing/touching, voyeurism, drugging, punches, bullying, intimate partner emotional abuse, hits, manhandling
Watch Suggestions (to remove most of Sorn being an asshole and uninteresting side characters/plot)
- episode 1 watch beginning-27:50
- watch all of episode 2
- episode 3 watch beginning-13:45, 27-35:35, 37:50-54
- episode 4 watch beginning-5:30
- episode 5 watch 11-20:45, 23:30-24:5, 35:10 to the end
- episode 6 watch 5:25-6:30, 7:15-8:30, 20-23 gl, 27:30-35:25, 37:45-end
- episode 7 watch 5:40-9:50, 20:20-21:30 and continue for the GL, 30-33, 37-44
- episode 8 watch 17-18 and 29-41:45
- skip episode 9
- episode 10 watch 9:30-13:10, 34:50-35:20 and 39:20-end
- episode 11 watch 13:15-19:30 and 21:45-31:15
- episode 12 watch 17:50-end
What I Liked
- attention getting intro*
- tension
- NSFW scenes were pretty well done with facial expressions/sounds**
- the camera shot of the escalators with a character going up and the other going down
- Jun's dad and sister
- Sorn's mom and brother
- good conversation about sexual position preferences
Room For Improvement
- *the intro scene felt kind of random, and then there was a separate situation that seemed not connected from that time but the characters discussed the past as if it was just 1 incident and not 2
- character cards to introduce characters instead of naturally showing the audience their traits
- felt choppy at times (daylight went to full nighttime in a few minutes in ep 7)
- nonsense stuff like not contacting someone because they lost their phone as if social media doesn't exist, **an unusual amount of neck kissing then a character saying he couldn't breathe when he wasn't being kissed on the mouth at all, school aged children working at a coffee shop during the school day, Jun being extremely drunk and then suddenly sober, Win didn't hear something when he very close, pink lighting in the same bathroom that never had it previously, a beard that looked like it was drawn on by a toddler
- comedy sound effects didn't make things funny
- Sorn let Jun be punched multiple times before intervening because he wanted to teach him a lesson about not kissing people when Sorn was kissing someone?!? Sorn tells other people to treat Jun like an adult when he himself treats Jun like a child, Sorn kicked Jun's leg and hit his mouth for looking at his brother
- what Sorn did in episode 4 was terrible and a few apologies/buying food didn't fix it for me
- the side m/m couple's progression made no sense and they virtually disappeared for a few episodes, they don't talk to each other when they should have and then it got very controlling "you are my wife" stuff
- the side f/f couple's progression/relationship in the first half didn't make much sense and they also disappeared
- the side m/f couple's relationship was boring to watch
- in episode 5 Jun told Sorn to stop multiple times and Sorn didn't, in episode 7 Jun was hitting Sorn as if saying to stop and Sorn continued
- some odd/close up shots
- love rivals including in the finale, could have spent that time elsewhere
Note for ages: Jun was 19 (i.e. in university) in the first scene and Sorn was 24. In the present, Jun is 21 and Sorn is 26. The actors are 30 and 28. I have no issue with the age gap.
Thoughts on Grey Characters/Their Romantic Relationships
Sometimes these characters and their dynamic work for me and other times they don't. Here are the factors that I think about:
1. was there a realistic reason why the character/s acted the way they did in the past (there was no reason given why Sorn was an asshole/abusive towards Jun)
2. how bad was/is the treatment (emotionally abusive with ignoring Jun's boundaries multiple times, controlling Jun's actions or saying things were Jun's fault that weren't his fault, made Jun look really bad at work, Sorn allowed Jun to get punched multiple times to teach Jun a lesson that Sorn himself ignored)
3. were both characters grey or was one squeaky clean (Jun was pretty squeaky clean, he had a go with the flow energy)
4. was there some kind of apology/amend making (verbal apologies and bought Jun food in ep 5 for 1 instance, the later apology was awful and said Jun should know that Sorn was bad at apologies, wtf?!)
5. was there character growth (no, Sorn continued to ignore Jun's boundaries, was controlling/too possessive)
6. do I believe that the characters will stay together in a happy romantic relationship (no, because the emotional abuse will make Jun miserable)
final verdict: I don't want them together, Jun will be miserable, he still looked miserable/reluctant a lot of the time
Some Differences Between the Book & The Series
- in the book in the past they did show how both Sorn and Jun pranked each other, it felt much less 1 sided bullying in the book
- the book did not have GL and Sorn clearly explained his past relationship with Penny
- the book did not have Sorn smiling as Jun got into trouble in episode 4, Sorn was horrified that it had gone that far and made amends better in the book
- the book has a reason why Sorn does not like people younger than himself, they did eventually give the reason but it wasn't as clear as in the book
- Sorn also had a good reason for losing contact, TBD if they talk about this in the series
- Jun is really into Sorn in the book and is not frequently reluctant like he is in the series
- the 2nd half of the book was Sorn groveling/making up for his past mistakes, the series dragged out Sorn being a jerk with barely any apology-making
Content Warnings: non/dub con kissing/touching, voyeurism, drugging, punches, bullying, intimate partner emotional abuse, hits, manhandling
Watch Suggestions (to remove most of Sorn being an asshole and uninteresting side characters/plot)
- episode 1 watch beginning-27:50
- watch all of episode 2
- episode 3 watch beginning-13:45, 27-35:35, 37:50-54
- episode 4 watch beginning-5:30
- episode 5 watch 11-20:45, 23:30-24:5, 35:10 to the end
- episode 6 watch 5:25-6:30, 7:15-8:30, 20-23 gl, 27:30-35:25, 37:45-end
- episode 7 watch 5:40-9:50, 20:20-21:30 and continue for the GL, 30-33, 37-44
- episode 8 watch 17-18 and 29-41:45
- skip episode 9
- episode 10 watch 9:30-13:10, 34:50-35:20 and 39:20-end
- episode 11 watch 13:15-19:30 and 21:45-31:15
- episode 12 watch 17:50-end
What I Liked
- attention getting intro*
- tension
- NSFW scenes were pretty well done with facial expressions/sounds**
- the camera shot of the escalators with a character going up and the other going down
- Jun's dad and sister
- Sorn's mom and brother
- good conversation about sexual position preferences
Room For Improvement
- *the intro scene felt kind of random, and then there was a separate situation that seemed not connected from that time but the characters discussed the past as if it was just 1 incident and not 2
- character cards to introduce characters instead of naturally showing the audience their traits
- felt choppy at times (daylight went to full nighttime in a few minutes in ep 7)
- nonsense stuff like not contacting someone because they lost their phone as if social media doesn't exist, **an unusual amount of neck kissing then a character saying he couldn't breathe when he wasn't being kissed on the mouth at all, school aged children working at a coffee shop during the school day, Jun being extremely drunk and then suddenly sober, Win didn't hear something when he very close, pink lighting in the same bathroom that never had it previously, a beard that looked like it was drawn on by a toddler
- comedy sound effects didn't make things funny
- Sorn let Jun be punched multiple times before intervening because he wanted to teach him a lesson about not kissing people when Sorn was kissing someone?!? Sorn tells other people to treat Jun like an adult when he himself treats Jun like a child, Sorn kicked Jun's leg and hit his mouth for looking at his brother
- what Sorn did in episode 4 was terrible and a few apologies/buying food didn't fix it for me
- the side m/m couple's progression made no sense and they virtually disappeared for a few episodes, they don't talk to each other when they should have and then it got very controlling "you are my wife" stuff
- the side f/f couple's progression/relationship in the first half didn't make much sense and they also disappeared
- the side m/f couple's relationship was boring to watch
- in episode 5 Jun told Sorn to stop multiple times and Sorn didn't, in episode 7 Jun was hitting Sorn as if saying to stop and Sorn continued
- some odd/close up shots
- love rivals including in the finale, could have spent that time elsewhere
Note for ages: Jun was 19 (i.e. in university) in the first scene and Sorn was 24. In the present, Jun is 21 and Sorn is 26. The actors are 30 and 28. I have no issue with the age gap.
Thoughts on Grey Characters/Their Romantic Relationships
Sometimes these characters and their dynamic work for me and other times they don't. Here are the factors that I think about:
1. was there a realistic reason why the character/s acted the way they did in the past (there was no reason given why Sorn was an asshole/abusive towards Jun)
2. how bad was/is the treatment (emotionally abusive with ignoring Jun's boundaries multiple times, controlling Jun's actions or saying things were Jun's fault that weren't his fault, made Jun look really bad at work, Sorn allowed Jun to get punched multiple times to teach Jun a lesson that Sorn himself ignored)
3. were both characters grey or was one squeaky clean (Jun was pretty squeaky clean, he had a go with the flow energy)
4. was there some kind of apology/amend making (verbal apologies and bought Jun food in ep 5 for 1 instance, the later apology was awful and said Jun should know that Sorn was bad at apologies, wtf?!)
5. was there character growth (no, Sorn continued to ignore Jun's boundaries, was controlling/too possessive)
6. do I believe that the characters will stay together in a happy romantic relationship (no, because the emotional abuse will make Jun miserable)
final verdict: I don't want them together, Jun will be miserable, he still looked miserable/reluctant a lot of the time
Some Differences Between the Book & The Series
- in the book in the past they did show how both Sorn and Jun pranked each other, it felt much less 1 sided bullying in the book
- the book did not have GL and Sorn clearly explained his past relationship with Penny
- the book did not have Sorn smiling as Jun got into trouble in episode 4, Sorn was horrified that it had gone that far and made amends better in the book
- the book has a reason why Sorn does not like people younger than himself, they did eventually give the reason but it wasn't as clear as in the book
- Sorn also had a good reason for losing contact, TBD if they talk about this in the series
- Jun is really into Sorn in the book and is not frequently reluctant like he is in the series
- the 2nd half of the book was Sorn groveling/making up for his past mistakes, the series dragged out Sorn being a jerk with barely any apology-making
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