This review may contain spoilers
high hopes crushed by 5 dollar budget
don't get me wrong, i love daouoffroad.
but what the fuck is this?
i was sooo hyped for this and... it just didn't deliver. the casting was good and the overall idea seemed fine.
i was hooked from the first episodes, and then my enthusiasm slowly began to die as i got further into the story as i came to realize that the plot was literally hanging on by a thread and the production budget seemed to have been cut off mid shooting.
the characters were all so stereotypical and shallow...
pheem was... maybe kinda likeable?? i mean yes he has lived a very hard life. but i thought, after all the hardships his father had made him endure, he would come back to thanavej and take everything flip off his dad and marry than. but no. he chose to try to rise to power but still under his dad's order???? WHY??? YOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE EVERYTHING FROM THE MAN THAT HURT YOU THE MOST AND YOU STILL CHOSE TO ATTACK CHET WHO WE JUST SPENT A WHOLE EPISODE REMINISCING ABOUT THE TIMES HE WASN'T ACTUALLY BAD ALL ALONG AND IT'S JUST BECAUSE OF HIS MOTHER????? because let's be real, chet was evil but that's all on dad. if he wasn't pushing his children against each other and enabling his wife when she killed pheem's mother all of that wouldn't have happened.
also, why does he keep making promises to than he KNOWS he's not gonna keep? he runs away and then cries because than doesn't want him anymore. NO SHIT SHERLOCK??? MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THAT BEFOREHAND!!!
than was very perplexing. it's like he got used to the drama. why the fuck did he forgive pheem after he did exactly what than didn't want him to do? that just didn't make any sense. he was a good character, if only he wasn't so dumb...
chet was the archetype of the bad guy: always yells, get angry at everything, is not very smart, makes the dumbest decisions ever, has a kind of attempted but aborted redemption arc at the end. he was not nuanced at all, which really bothered me. you're really telling me that this man would actually try to shoot his own brother in a room full of people while actively trying to make himself look good so his father could take him in again? come on!! his character was not realistic at all and his death was kind of painfully cringe to watch as i didn't feel any sympathy for him. and i guess park was okay, tho his death seemed as unnecessary as predictable.
risa was supposed to be written as this evil mastermind but the switch in tone and pacing never really occurred for he character which only made it seem like she changed her mind and decided to become a villain at the last second. it wasn't even a plot twist it just felt like i had skipped and episode. her bodyguard was fine i guess though she was very forgettable. there was potential but it was so wasted. she was insignificant to me. i would've loved to see her relationship with risa unfold more, or even with park or than, but nothing. such a shame.
the dad, don't get me started on the dad. he was so badly written. he was not smart or cunning or anything. he was merely a plot device. i wish he had been more nuanced. i mean each time his children did something shady he would turn to the next one without suspecting anything and the cycle would start again. AND HE NEVER TRIED TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
ms. nit was also very forgettable. she's supposed to be pheem's mother figure, but she's just never on screen for more than two minutes at a time. i should have counted how many times pheem went and told her that it would be the last time she helped him. because that happened at least four time.
the plot was paper-thin and very badly written, and had very drastic tonal changes that felt very strange. like you're telling me this is supposed to be a dark, edgy action series with very serious topics and then there's an inexplicable scene where than and pheem go on a little pottery and painting date??? hello??? is this a romcom??? it just felt very out of place...
the production was... interesting. i believe the editors went on strike halfway through... the cgi was soooo bad it was painful to look at. the bullets and wounds were made in a way that seemed sooo cheap. did they edit this in capcut of something?? because it sure looked like it. give me ketchup and a cookie cutter and i'm sure i can do better.
and don't get me started about the lest episode. it was a literal hemoglobin fest. when than put the video online and risa watched it, i couldn't help but giggle at the name of the site, "Dark Web". that was so silly. the way risa and her little team along with park died in the elevator felt so rushed it lost all meaning. and come on... pheem's reappearance? i mean yeah we all saw it coming but that was so unnecessary. he could've informed than so much earlier and saved him the grief to have the love of his life die in front of him... but nooo my man pheem decided to wait two fucking weeks because he was "busy with paperwork"!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!! AND THAN FORGAVE HIM ONCE AGAIN COME ON PEOPLE HAVE SOME FUCKING COMMON SENSE
overall this series was infuriating because every character kept making the wrong fucking decision at every turn and it drove me insane.
BUT
daouoffroad's chemistry is so unmatched, imma let it slide and i'll pray that their next work together has more than 5 dollars of budget and that the screenwriters don't commit suicide halfway through because of how bad the script is being written.
but what the fuck is this?
i was sooo hyped for this and... it just didn't deliver. the casting was good and the overall idea seemed fine.
i was hooked from the first episodes, and then my enthusiasm slowly began to die as i got further into the story as i came to realize that the plot was literally hanging on by a thread and the production budget seemed to have been cut off mid shooting.
the characters were all so stereotypical and shallow...
pheem was... maybe kinda likeable?? i mean yes he has lived a very hard life. but i thought, after all the hardships his father had made him endure, he would come back to thanavej and take everything flip off his dad and marry than. but no. he chose to try to rise to power but still under his dad's order???? WHY??? YOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE EVERYTHING FROM THE MAN THAT HURT YOU THE MOST AND YOU STILL CHOSE TO ATTACK CHET WHO WE JUST SPENT A WHOLE EPISODE REMINISCING ABOUT THE TIMES HE WASN'T ACTUALLY BAD ALL ALONG AND IT'S JUST BECAUSE OF HIS MOTHER????? because let's be real, chet was evil but that's all on dad. if he wasn't pushing his children against each other and enabling his wife when she killed pheem's mother all of that wouldn't have happened.
also, why does he keep making promises to than he KNOWS he's not gonna keep? he runs away and then cries because than doesn't want him anymore. NO SHIT SHERLOCK??? MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THAT BEFOREHAND!!!
than was very perplexing. it's like he got used to the drama. why the fuck did he forgive pheem after he did exactly what than didn't want him to do? that just didn't make any sense. he was a good character, if only he wasn't so dumb...
chet was the archetype of the bad guy: always yells, get angry at everything, is not very smart, makes the dumbest decisions ever, has a kind of attempted but aborted redemption arc at the end. he was not nuanced at all, which really bothered me. you're really telling me that this man would actually try to shoot his own brother in a room full of people while actively trying to make himself look good so his father could take him in again? come on!! his character was not realistic at all and his death was kind of painfully cringe to watch as i didn't feel any sympathy for him. and i guess park was okay, tho his death seemed as unnecessary as predictable.
risa was supposed to be written as this evil mastermind but the switch in tone and pacing never really occurred for he character which only made it seem like she changed her mind and decided to become a villain at the last second. it wasn't even a plot twist it just felt like i had skipped and episode. her bodyguard was fine i guess though she was very forgettable. there was potential but it was so wasted. she was insignificant to me. i would've loved to see her relationship with risa unfold more, or even with park or than, but nothing. such a shame.
the dad, don't get me started on the dad. he was so badly written. he was not smart or cunning or anything. he was merely a plot device. i wish he had been more nuanced. i mean each time his children did something shady he would turn to the next one without suspecting anything and the cycle would start again. AND HE NEVER TRIED TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
ms. nit was also very forgettable. she's supposed to be pheem's mother figure, but she's just never on screen for more than two minutes at a time. i should have counted how many times pheem went and told her that it would be the last time she helped him. because that happened at least four time.
the plot was paper-thin and very badly written, and had very drastic tonal changes that felt very strange. like you're telling me this is supposed to be a dark, edgy action series with very serious topics and then there's an inexplicable scene where than and pheem go on a little pottery and painting date??? hello??? is this a romcom??? it just felt very out of place...
the production was... interesting. i believe the editors went on strike halfway through... the cgi was soooo bad it was painful to look at. the bullets and wounds were made in a way that seemed sooo cheap. did they edit this in capcut of something?? because it sure looked like it. give me ketchup and a cookie cutter and i'm sure i can do better.
and don't get me started about the lest episode. it was a literal hemoglobin fest. when than put the video online and risa watched it, i couldn't help but giggle at the name of the site, "Dark Web". that was so silly. the way risa and her little team along with park died in the elevator felt so rushed it lost all meaning. and come on... pheem's reappearance? i mean yeah we all saw it coming but that was so unnecessary. he could've informed than so much earlier and saved him the grief to have the love of his life die in front of him... but nooo my man pheem decided to wait two fucking weeks because he was "busy with paperwork"!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!! AND THAN FORGAVE HIM ONCE AGAIN COME ON PEOPLE HAVE SOME FUCKING COMMON SENSE
overall this series was infuriating because every character kept making the wrong fucking decision at every turn and it drove me insane.
BUT
daouoffroad's chemistry is so unmatched, imma let it slide and i'll pray that their next work together has more than 5 dollars of budget and that the screenwriters don't commit suicide halfway through because of how bad the script is being written.
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