This review may contain spoilers
Thank Gods It's Over
I started watching this right when it dropped and my goodness those 12 weeks couldn't've come fast enough.
If all you want is borderline softcore porn with a main couple that, despite everything bad that happens, has great chemistry, then watch this. Maybe someone will have a list of timestamps for all the sex scenes because that may be the only thing worth watching.
I'll start off with the biggest flex this show has:
ACTING
Overall, the acting is quite good, especially with Jun. Hell, if you're familiar with Yoon and how stiff he can be, I'd say he was a little more flexible here. This might just be due to the fact that his style matched the character well- except in the final episode when he had to be mean and, well, that fell flat.
I'd even say Sorn's actor did a good job- with the little he had to work with. Sorn's character is very one note: smoldering glares and frowns and the occasional eyebrow raise. This isn't the fault of the actor at all, moreso the writers.
Despite that, I'd honestly love to see Boat and Oat in a completely different story.
WRITING:
Bad. Awful. Terrible.
If you enjoy toxic yaoi/BL/romance stories where the top is narcissistic and controlling, constantly lies, and acts like he has nooooo idea what he's doing even though it's super clear he's creating a terribly off balance dynamic between him and his partner: then yeah you'd love this story.
The story starts off on a very manipulative lie: Sorn practically tricks Jun to masturbate with him out in the open and then lies about Jun being so awful that he *needs* Sorn. He needs Sorn to teach him how to be better. And Jun, who's inexperienced (not a bad thing at all) unfortunately falls for it.
This story makes bank off of the fact that Jun's character isn't all that socially bright to the point where, yes, he comes off as childish. The size difference and the way most of the older characters refer to him as kid REALLY adds to this. And this makes the imbalance between their characters that much worse. Sorn knows EXACTLY what he's doing by never fully committing to an actual relationship while getting sex out of Jun just about whenever he wants. He takes full blown advantage of Jun's naivety and overtly trusting nature and it gets very uncomfortable to watch very quickly.
I'm not a fan of this trope. This borderline dubcon situation. The (mostly sexual) attraction the audience is supposed to have towards this show is steeped in manipulation, there's no other way around it.
The only reason why I stuck around was to see if they' actually develop Jun's character enough to make him realize that he's in a very fucked up situation. What I really wanted to see was Jun realizing early on that, yeah, this is NOT working. And then maybe the rest of the show would be Jun growing a backbone and, most importantly, Sorn ceasing his disgusting actions. But no. Once episode 4 came and went, I knew exactly where this story was going.
Yes, Jun has a small moment in the last third of the story when he overhears Sorn and his brother chatting about him. Sorn's brother, just like everyone else except Jun, clocks Sorn for his bad behavior, and Sorn admits he can't date Jun. This is when Jun snaps and he silently distances himself from Sorn. And let me tell you, those 2 episodes were actually the best parts of the show. Jun staying away from Sorn while trying to move on with his life. His friends helping him because they all know Sorn sucks- well, they know this but not enough to try and stop it before. But I digress.
I'm familiar with these types of stories, so I knew Jun would go back. So I cherished these moments as much as I could.
I had hoped that, if anything, Sorn's character would grow exponentially. But no.
No.
He does not.
And it's CRAZY. He literally stays THE same. And sadly Jun's character reverts to his former self: malleable and controlled.
The writing for Jun's departure was fairly good, so it was disappointing to see Sorn and Jun's relationship stay EXACTLY the same as it was before this moment. The first time Sorn went RIGHT back to invading Jun's personal space (at his job btw!!!), I felt sick. Like, a different type of sick compared to before.
I'll say it again, I would love to see these two actors in literally anything else. I just hope they aren't typecasted to this.
Now with the others:
- Tai and Champ's side story was okay. Nothing groundbreaking. And yet I felt like it at least attempted to balance the toxicity of SornJun. So at times, I really enjoyed their moments because at least it was a break from the main couple. I did like their tie to SornJun, being that they're part of their original group and that Tai is basically Jun's older brother. I felt the drama that grew between Champ And Tai once Champ finally found out about SornJun was actually pretty good. But man that drama fell flat very fast.
And that's an overall problem this show has. It's very much Porn With A Little Bit of Story rather than a Story With a Little Bit of Porn.
I found that a lot of the side points would crumble pretty quickly and become less and less interesting. Which is a shame because I did find a lot of the side characters to be interesting. This leads me to
-Mandatory GL Couple That Gets Side Swiped Very Quickly
I felt so bad for these girls, They're romance is veeeeery clearly shoe horned into the story. GL plotlines have been fairly popular lately and it felt like a very sloppy attempt at jumping on the trend. They had a strong start, I will say that. But Penny's relationship with Sorn turned out to be far more interesting than her eventual romance- which says A LOT.
-Phut(?) and Vee
Great example of forced side romance. They got pulled into the raging waters that was SornJun so quickly that I legit forgot about their whole....thing. When they randomly brought in the final episode and he was like "oh yeah we ended it" or whatever he said, I laughed. That was so half assed.
Summary:
I need Boat and Oat in something else. Please.
If anything, the sex scenes were directed well....?
Can we please put an end to Toxic Man Romance? Or at least ton it down? Thanks <3
If all you want is borderline softcore porn with a main couple that, despite everything bad that happens, has great chemistry, then watch this. Maybe someone will have a list of timestamps for all the sex scenes because that may be the only thing worth watching.
I'll start off with the biggest flex this show has:
ACTING
Overall, the acting is quite good, especially with Jun. Hell, if you're familiar with Yoon and how stiff he can be, I'd say he was a little more flexible here. This might just be due to the fact that his style matched the character well- except in the final episode when he had to be mean and, well, that fell flat.
I'd even say Sorn's actor did a good job- with the little he had to work with. Sorn's character is very one note: smoldering glares and frowns and the occasional eyebrow raise. This isn't the fault of the actor at all, moreso the writers.
Despite that, I'd honestly love to see Boat and Oat in a completely different story.
WRITING:
Bad. Awful. Terrible.
If you enjoy toxic yaoi/BL/romance stories where the top is narcissistic and controlling, constantly lies, and acts like he has nooooo idea what he's doing even though it's super clear he's creating a terribly off balance dynamic between him and his partner: then yeah you'd love this story.
The story starts off on a very manipulative lie: Sorn practically tricks Jun to masturbate with him out in the open and then lies about Jun being so awful that he *needs* Sorn. He needs Sorn to teach him how to be better. And Jun, who's inexperienced (not a bad thing at all) unfortunately falls for it.
This story makes bank off of the fact that Jun's character isn't all that socially bright to the point where, yes, he comes off as childish. The size difference and the way most of the older characters refer to him as kid REALLY adds to this. And this makes the imbalance between their characters that much worse. Sorn knows EXACTLY what he's doing by never fully committing to an actual relationship while getting sex out of Jun just about whenever he wants. He takes full blown advantage of Jun's naivety and overtly trusting nature and it gets very uncomfortable to watch very quickly.
I'm not a fan of this trope. This borderline dubcon situation. The (mostly sexual) attraction the audience is supposed to have towards this show is steeped in manipulation, there's no other way around it.
The only reason why I stuck around was to see if they' actually develop Jun's character enough to make him realize that he's in a very fucked up situation. What I really wanted to see was Jun realizing early on that, yeah, this is NOT working. And then maybe the rest of the show would be Jun growing a backbone and, most importantly, Sorn ceasing his disgusting actions. But no. Once episode 4 came and went, I knew exactly where this story was going.
Yes, Jun has a small moment in the last third of the story when he overhears Sorn and his brother chatting about him. Sorn's brother, just like everyone else except Jun, clocks Sorn for his bad behavior, and Sorn admits he can't date Jun. This is when Jun snaps and he silently distances himself from Sorn. And let me tell you, those 2 episodes were actually the best parts of the show. Jun staying away from Sorn while trying to move on with his life. His friends helping him because they all know Sorn sucks- well, they know this but not enough to try and stop it before. But I digress.
I'm familiar with these types of stories, so I knew Jun would go back. So I cherished these moments as much as I could.
I had hoped that, if anything, Sorn's character would grow exponentially. But no.
No.
He does not.
And it's CRAZY. He literally stays THE same. And sadly Jun's character reverts to his former self: malleable and controlled.
The writing for Jun's departure was fairly good, so it was disappointing to see Sorn and Jun's relationship stay EXACTLY the same as it was before this moment. The first time Sorn went RIGHT back to invading Jun's personal space (at his job btw!!!), I felt sick. Like, a different type of sick compared to before.
I'll say it again, I would love to see these two actors in literally anything else. I just hope they aren't typecasted to this.
Now with the others:
- Tai and Champ's side story was okay. Nothing groundbreaking. And yet I felt like it at least attempted to balance the toxicity of SornJun. So at times, I really enjoyed their moments because at least it was a break from the main couple. I did like their tie to SornJun, being that they're part of their original group and that Tai is basically Jun's older brother. I felt the drama that grew between Champ And Tai once Champ finally found out about SornJun was actually pretty good. But man that drama fell flat very fast.
And that's an overall problem this show has. It's very much Porn With A Little Bit of Story rather than a Story With a Little Bit of Porn.
I found that a lot of the side points would crumble pretty quickly and become less and less interesting. Which is a shame because I did find a lot of the side characters to be interesting. This leads me to
-Mandatory GL Couple That Gets Side Swiped Very Quickly
I felt so bad for these girls, They're romance is veeeeery clearly shoe horned into the story. GL plotlines have been fairly popular lately and it felt like a very sloppy attempt at jumping on the trend. They had a strong start, I will say that. But Penny's relationship with Sorn turned out to be far more interesting than her eventual romance- which says A LOT.
-Phut(?) and Vee
Great example of forced side romance. They got pulled into the raging waters that was SornJun so quickly that I legit forgot about their whole....thing. When they randomly brought in the final episode and he was like "oh yeah we ended it" or whatever he said, I laughed. That was so half assed.
Summary:
I need Boat and Oat in something else. Please.
If anything, the sex scenes were directed well....?
Can we please put an end to Toxic Man Romance? Or at least ton it down? Thanks <3
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