jpny01

I'm the opposite. I can't really understand why anyone liked anyone, but at least Mario is cute. This whole series was a pretentious disaster, and for those of us old enough to remember AIDS, this is was downright insensitive. Why are 20% of 20-something BL characters terminally ill? Just stop. If you're going to kill them off, I prefer the White Van of Death.

This series has been a tad guilty of obnoxious product placement at times. That one was particularly unfortunately timed - it's fine when it's not an important scene like that. I've heard that only 10-15% of the budget comes from sponsors - they should just tell us and we can contrubute enough money to make up for that amount to avoid the awkwardness.

There are product placements in the USA too, but the product is just there, or used by someone, like maybe they drive an Audi or something - they don't make the story screech to a halt so they can discuss how disgusting curry-covered seaweed is a gift of love or something.

"Hey Mr. Bond, I love the beautiful upholstery in your beautiful new car!"

"That's just the beginning! It possesses integral seat warmers and extra-deep luggage storage."

"And I love how it handles! Watch out for the laser-Zeppelin ahead."

I guess not, since they're talking about making their first time special. Maybe they've just done blow and hand jobs or something. Which I guess doesn't count? (Even though it does.)

It gets that way when fans feel a rivalry with another show. Gameboys fans were very hostile to Hello Stranger, and Not Me fans are hostile to Bad Buddy. I don't get it - why can't you like both? Not Me fans keep dismissing BB as a romcom, whereas Not Me is a proper drama. Right, a guy replacing his evil twin in a motorcycle gang is a serious premise, vs a show that's based on Romeo & Juliet, which we all know as a riotous comedy. Although I suspect BB will have a happier ending.

I think he's fallen for Phap - he just doesn't want to admit it to himself because Phap doesn't fit any ideal he's set for himself. But Phap is perfect for him.

There was a problem with set design in that episode - they could have spent a bit more on that, because it did look like he just TP'd the room, but it was supposed to be artistic, so it's not really Phap's fault that the real-life production failed. It was funny though.

Does "phap" have the same meaning in Thai as it does in English (although spelled with an 'f')? Or is it just accidentally funny?

I thin you're absolutely right that Phab has abandonment issues, and I thought this was very well communicated by the acting and writing.

I also liked how Maze was accusing Phab of being into one-night stands, when he was he who was treating it that way, and Phab's reaction was perfect.

As much cuteness was stuffed into this ep, it could have been devoted to the family drama, which is not something that can be realistically resolved in 15 minutes - but two eps would have sufficed, and still left time for some happy celebration.

1,000 Stars had the same problem. A ton of silly drama was tossed into the second-to-last episode, then swept under the rug by having Chief shot. The conflict over Chief having been in communication with Max's father, however, was integral to the plot and and characters and intelligently handled - if the drama had all been like that instead of about a cartoonishly evil drug dealer and some dead girl, then it would have been a perfect series.

Here the theme is fighting for love, and to do that they surrender unconditionally without even trying, so why do I care? They're going to end up together in the end anyway, where they can have reserved and non-progressing chemistry for the rest of their lives.

OMG yes. The Not Me forumd is like a Mad Max movie - no civilization, no rules, just zero-sum senseless violence. Here it's possible to have in depth stimulating conversations.

A breakup storyline would be fine if it made sense. Is it true that just being together for a brief time is fighting for their love, or is actually fighting for their love fighting for love? They haven't even tried, not even the slightest bit - so it's just giving up, so are they really in love?

This needed to be set in high school where they were minors and what their parents want is critical, and they aren't emotionally and intellectually equipped to resist - but here they're adults, and their breaking up to enable intersting fatalistic directorial choices rather than making sense to the plot and characters.

But that's not what Pat thought - he said directly that he knows they have to go back, he just wanted them to stay a bit longer.

I don't hate the show because they broke up, I just think less of the show because the writing lacks any dramatic tension or stakes. For this to happen at the end of Ep 11 to be followed by a time jump is just pure laziness on the part of the writing. Why do I care? They broke up for no reason and will get back together. And everyone lived happily ever after, The End.

I don't think Pran's mother is abusive at all. Pat's father sabotaged her, destroyed her lifelong goals, and she has every reason to fear he'll do the same thing to Pran on Pat's behalf. I would even say she's doing the right thing, based on what she knows.

But Pran hasn't even talked to her to explain how he feels and what Pat means to him and his happiness, so I can't buy that there's a commentary on the cycle of abuse. I think there is a lot of digging going on to find justification for poor writing. What are the stakes? Wai was ready to commit murder, and then he was 100% OK with it with a shrug. Conflict resolved, amen. So what's different with the parents? I don't know, because the story hasn't explored it for even 1 second. Intead we got this filler episode to be followed by a time jump to paper over all the conflict, so their breakup is meaningless, because they'll get back together after mere minutes of screentime. So why should I care?

Thanks for the link! I believe they've broken up, but it's Ep 11, so it's too late to resolve everything in a non-lazy way, which is why there's a time jump and they get back together. That to me demotes this series from Best Thing Ever to Not Great But Saved By Acting.

Contrasting this with Ep 5, where they masterfully built up the stakes to the point that the conflict with Wai really felt like life or death, to the limp way that tension was resolved, and now on to this - they broke up because... why exactly? If Pran had sat down with his mother and discussed this, but she categorically refused to accept it, that would be one thing. But that hasn't happened. He's just accepting she won't like it without even trying, and so he's breaking up with Pat.

Even if it's a fake breakup, or a temporary one (apparently for several years), why? Why deny yourself happiness in the youthful years you can never get back and will definitely regret? And we won't feel it because they'll be back together within an episode. And we'll never get to feel the drama because it's been skipped over.

This episode was a waste - it should have centered on the parent situation. Instead it was fan-service, and it didn't really give us anything new there, either - it was the same level of interaction we've had since the beginning. Cute and well-acted, but did nothing to advance the story.

I think what I'm saying is that I'm NOT emotionally invested in Pat & Pran because there are no stakes and nothing to worry about. They will break up, then get back together - therefore I don't care, because there's no dramatic tension.

What you said makes just as much sense - I guess we just have to give up and go with it.

I want to read your review but I can't find it - can you direct me?

Wow, I totally thought I would be the only person with this opinion - I was almost afraid to say it for fear of being lynched. You fleshed out what I was thinking - that's maybe a clearer way of expressing it. There doesn't feel like there's anything at stake, and so there's no tension.

I interpreted it that way because Geum couldn't have taken the painting to the palace as far as we could tell from what was going on, so the conversation with the woman had to be in a different timeline - she spoke about the prince in the past tense, meaning he was dead when she was talking about him, which was in the past, but a different past. So not confusing at all, LOL!

I think you're right on point, which is that there needed to be more time spent on the premise of the story - not a lot more, but a few extra minutes could have made a big difference. If you have to pause a 12-minute episode to try to figure out what's going on, then something isn't working.

I totally agree - he did save Neung's life and push Maze to reconcile with him. It's things that are important vs things that are not important. A lot of people seem to equate aggressiveness with violence, and they're not the same.

Wow, a lot of people were really bothered by Phap drinking Neung's water. That was fairly trivial compared to saving his life and engineering a reconciliation between Maze and Neung - I think the whole point of this is distinguishing between things that are important and things that are not. He was jealous and acting out - it was silly and cute. If someone did that to me, I'd be entertained. Only people who take themselves too seriously would be seriously offended.

Anyway, I'm surprised at how much I love this series - I usually don't like Singto but he's good for this role. I didn't think he could pull off vulnerability like that.

And I absolutely love Tae's performance in this - I love how weird and different he is from the usual cookie-cutter BL characters.