that was ambitious. didn’t work. got dunked.
it is i, the niel.
it took me months to finish the latter portion of this show because the last few episodes were an interminable slog. firstly, the episodes were way too long and like many bls, poorly paced. we did not need 12 episodes. i think that it started off strong(ish). the initial plot and conflict were interesting. i liked that it felt different than what a lot of gmmtv puts out. i had high hopes that they would be able to execute this show well because it felt similar to gmmtv's other more 'mature' shows such as "not me" or "only friends", which have both been stand-outs from gmmtv (for me, at least).
past the midpoint of this show, the original plot and conflict started getting lost in side plots, and the whole thing became muddled as far as "where are we going" and "what are we doing". again, too many episodes. i found myself thinking that a lot of the physicality and general dialogue between the two couples became filler rather than development, and honestly wanted to skip through a lot of those scenes. i had to watch the last 3 episodes on 2x speed and skip some parts that were clearly filler. towards the end, the characters were not distinctively different from one another, and i began to lose a sense of their individual personalities. this oftentimes happens when the show is clearly headed towards a positive ending, so the writers are like "well, now we can't have any sort of conflict or back and forth". i think that if another actor had played style, i would've been more on board with some of the filler dialogue.
dunk. the true nail in the coffin for this show. i know people have mixed feelings on this guy. wow, it was evident that he had trouble acting out his parts. part of what makes his acting so off is that he leaves his eyes open while kissing and doesn't really know how to close his mouth when he's not saying any lines (no hate). this is crazy to me because joong is such a strong actor, along with first and khaotung. their acting was solid, i don't really have any notes about them. because these 3 are some of gmmtv's stronger actors, it makes dunk stick out as a weak actor. at least he was in crop-tops most of the time, that was fun.
the overall styling of the characters was pretty good. at times, wild choices and almost too beholden to the aesthetic in the sense that it's a retail store trying to capture the essence of the 80s, but ends up putting out dupes that fall short but hit for 12-year-olds. kant had the most consistent and well-done styling for him as a character, though his tattooing glasses were a little stupid and very impractical (lol, sorry, not that relevant).
now, some important but not super relevant notes on certain aspects of the show. the fake tattoos on kant were jarring. they couldn't even powder them? the clothespins scene? what. dunk's personal tiktoks? what's he doing with all that food? the ages of the characters didn't seem realistic to the actual actors' ages. why did they throw in random conflict right at the end? that lasted all of 5 minutes, and we didn't exactly get a confirmation of what happened. the music was good, but weird at times.
i wouldn't recommend rewatching unless you're ready to sit through hours worth of dunk. i'm so happy i finally finished this show after so long.
freedom!!!
best,
the niel.
it took me months to finish the latter portion of this show because the last few episodes were an interminable slog. firstly, the episodes were way too long and like many bls, poorly paced. we did not need 12 episodes. i think that it started off strong(ish). the initial plot and conflict were interesting. i liked that it felt different than what a lot of gmmtv puts out. i had high hopes that they would be able to execute this show well because it felt similar to gmmtv's other more 'mature' shows such as "not me" or "only friends", which have both been stand-outs from gmmtv (for me, at least).
past the midpoint of this show, the original plot and conflict started getting lost in side plots, and the whole thing became muddled as far as "where are we going" and "what are we doing". again, too many episodes. i found myself thinking that a lot of the physicality and general dialogue between the two couples became filler rather than development, and honestly wanted to skip through a lot of those scenes. i had to watch the last 3 episodes on 2x speed and skip some parts that were clearly filler. towards the end, the characters were not distinctively different from one another, and i began to lose a sense of their individual personalities. this oftentimes happens when the show is clearly headed towards a positive ending, so the writers are like "well, now we can't have any sort of conflict or back and forth". i think that if another actor had played style, i would've been more on board with some of the filler dialogue.
dunk. the true nail in the coffin for this show. i know people have mixed feelings on this guy. wow, it was evident that he had trouble acting out his parts. part of what makes his acting so off is that he leaves his eyes open while kissing and doesn't really know how to close his mouth when he's not saying any lines (no hate). this is crazy to me because joong is such a strong actor, along with first and khaotung. their acting was solid, i don't really have any notes about them. because these 3 are some of gmmtv's stronger actors, it makes dunk stick out as a weak actor. at least he was in crop-tops most of the time, that was fun.
the overall styling of the characters was pretty good. at times, wild choices and almost too beholden to the aesthetic in the sense that it's a retail store trying to capture the essence of the 80s, but ends up putting out dupes that fall short but hit for 12-year-olds. kant had the most consistent and well-done styling for him as a character, though his tattooing glasses were a little stupid and very impractical (lol, sorry, not that relevant).
now, some important but not super relevant notes on certain aspects of the show. the fake tattoos on kant were jarring. they couldn't even powder them? the clothespins scene? what. dunk's personal tiktoks? what's he doing with all that food? the ages of the characters didn't seem realistic to the actual actors' ages. why did they throw in random conflict right at the end? that lasted all of 5 minutes, and we didn't exactly get a confirmation of what happened. the music was good, but weird at times.
i wouldn't recommend rewatching unless you're ready to sit through hours worth of dunk. i'm so happy i finally finished this show after so long.
freedom!!!
best,
the niel.
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