dramadramamama

dreaded ep. 11 curse...

Last Twilight is a thai drama with a refreshing and promising premise touching on subjects such as prejudices against ex-inmates, mental health topics, single parents and visually disabled people. And all that with a stellar cast and award-winning director should have made for a perfect series. And it was up until episode 9!
So first the good:
Acting: acting of the cast was superb with a seasoned and experienced ensemble cast and undeniable chemistry between JimmySea. I also loved the relationship that existed between Day and his brother Night. The development between these two also felt very natural. Mhok and his ex were also a wonderful pair adding a lot of nuance to Mhok and his life which hasn't been easy.
Music: a beautiful OST sung by the talented william jakraptr from LYKN with lyrics that matched Mhok & Day's dynamic and story completely. the song literally tells you what's going to happen. wonder why the director and screenwriters didn't stick to that?
Story: here's where it goes wrong...
The first part was beautiful and interesting to watch with Day struggling to come to terms with his disability and being depressed and basically trying to navigate his way through life as a disabled person. Eventually Mhok comes along and pulls him out of that depressive slump, helping him appreciate life again and accept himself. A story arc that they completely dissolve and destroy at the end for no apparent reason, giving off a very toxic and offensive message at the end, which is the complete opposite of the start of the series. it hurts me to give this series such a low rating because it could've been great. unfortunately it became okay-ish. it's still a good watch but it's also disappointing.
my advice? just stop watching after ep 9 or so when they reach their last twilight. like in the damn song.

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Why did I watch this?

Its been a while since i watched this but I never wrote a review because i was recovering from how bad this was. But also I thought i already had left a review, but i can't find it lol. so sorry if you see me critique this series 2x.
The story was all over the place and just not enjoyable! It started alright, but became repetitive, boring and convoluted, and for what?
It could've been a simple meta-BL like 'man who defies the world of BL' but instead YRU turned around on its heels after the first episode to become just like any other college BL...very disappointing since I had quite high hopes for this.
My main issue is that I had no clue who was supposed to be the main character until after i checked the MDL details. Imagine my surprise when zonxsaifah were just the supporting cast! Saint and Zee were both great actors and often better than saifahxzon, so i did enjoy that, but the writers did them dirty...
like c'mon, SA and homophobic parents? really? let's go back to the writing room and come up with a more interesting plot alright?
Speaking of the plot: why the fuck were there so many side couples??? it really took away from the main couple's screentime and didnt add to my enjoyment. except the guy with the cats and saifahxzon were kinda cute
So yeah, I dropped it at the penultimate episode because the whole SA scene with tutor and fighter just left a bad taste in my mouth.
Don't watch it, it's not worth it.

and another note: i'm so sick of people being like 'oh yeah well the series is a product of their time period so for that time it was quite good!' and like first of all: that might be true, but it doesn't mean you can't criticise a body of work. second of all, YRU IS FROM 2020!!! I get that a lot of things have changed since the first few y-series, but you can hardly call YRU a product of its time when 2gether and my engineer were released in the same year (not that those are my favourites but they are better). Besides, i'm also done with people characterising older BLs with bad writing because there are plenty of well-written BL dramas from that same period. Like a new BL series is not suddenly immune to bad writing (looking at you last twilight!!!)
anyways...drama queen out!!!

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Intermittent review: Annoying ML has redeemed himself slightly

I know there's only a few episodes released yet, but the way Thee has been written after the first 2 episodes annoys me so much. I liked him in the first 2 and thought he was perfect male lead material - caring, funny, witty, handsome - and then with the reveal that he's actually a nobleman with a lot of influence as the Deputy Minister of Education...WHOO BOY!

But then they suddenly butchered him? His caringness made him ignorant of boundaries. He is clueless of the prejudices that Rati faces and does very little to protect him or put the ones that are bullying Rati in their place (of course it was also not his place but he's supposed to be the ML so there has to be a moment where he's trying to stand up for Rati but then Rati says 'I'll handle this.' but that doesn't happen yet). I absolutely disliked him wanting to be friends with Rati because to me it came from a selfish place. Rati is rightfully angry with him and Thee is not doing much to prove he deserves to be friends by being all up in Rati's face. Even his apology felt lame and self-servicing (the physical touch, the insistence of helping -> crossing boundaries).

I'd much rather like it that Rati on his own accords would listen to Thee and then decide whether or not he wants Thee back in his life as friends, instead of all the pushing from Thee's side. It really rubs me the wrong way.

Especially also when sexuality comes to play into this. Like c'mon can you be any more obvious??? You're supposedly in a time and society where it is not accepted and where you are rumoured to swing the other way, and now you're implicating Rati in it too? The man already has to deal with the prejudices against foreigners and social status and now you're doing this? I hate that Thee's not doing anything to deny it either as if it's just a walk in the park...maybe it will become better later on but I'm not a fan of the script. It just doesn't feel authentic to Thee's identity and that saddens me.
EDIT: OKAY HE HATH REDEEMED HIMSELF WITH THAT MONOLOGUE IN FRONT OF THE SHRINE ALTHOUGH THE PDA WAS UNEXPECTED I REALLY LIKED IT!!!

I do like AouxBoom of course. Nothing of note yet except that they are simply adorable.

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just an ok pie

so cutie pie was a fun series im. not the best, but pretty enjoyable - just a bit repetitive and dumb at the end, but i happily ate the pie you know?
then i tried to watch cutie pie 2, but i kept putting it off and now i dropped it.
why? it just wasn't that interesting to me tbh. like ok, kuea gets an offer as qirin and starts hiding it again from his fiancé. feels familiar right? the cinematography was alright, and the acting from nunew has improved! and zee <3333
they did destroy my fave side couple, nuer and syn which made me very sad. i have no clue why they suddenly changed the direction of acting of syn...maybe to make him 'cuter'? i didn't like it AT ALL. It just made Syn look like a child and like he was some lost puppy, which in the original series, he isn't. Like his whole schtick is that he's a devout buddhist and that may make him somewhat more 'naive' because he always tries to see the good in people/things, but at the same time it also makes him wise beyond years. and here that's just completely gone?

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fell asleep

this was too boring for words. i thought that maybe i'd just have to wait till all the eps were released and then watch it, but i'm glad i dropped it because i read the story line and that's such BS!!!
It would've been better if this were a full on office romance with Jane and Ryan on equal footing instead of this weird power dynamic between intern and boss...weird asf for both couples
I think it would've been nice to finally have both Off and Gun explore more mature characters with other worries on their mind, like work ambitions, work place culture & relationships (is that coworker just being friendly or is it more?), or how to stand up for yourself (like 'hey there's something wrong with this project but i dont know how to bring it up to my supervisor') etc. etc.
in every drama so far there is an unequal power dynamic between offgun (whether this is intentional or not doesnt matter) and it would've been interesting to see a contrast not from power but from characteristic principles, ambitions etc.
but we didn't get that.

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