kairi_key

The sad thing about this series is that it's not readily available to some, and not technically a BL.

This is going to be an unpopular opinion:
I find the teaser a bit strange. The tone didn't match up that well for some reason between the action and the comedy, and the comedy seems a bit on a drier side. There is something about the acting too. I can't quite sure which are to be taken seriously, lol.
I'm still excited coz the cast are all amazing and it will add a lot more diversity into thai bl story. I hope the actual show will turn out great. I believe they can pull this off. The quality is already there.
Tho.... I had this weird feeling that I'm watching a live action of a mafia manga.

One pet peeve I have is that... the nurse's name is obviously Fah, but the subs write it as Fan... lol

Apparently, Tul and Max have the same thought lol

Anyone know who is that extra guy who played as one of the bodyguard to the Mad Hatter guy in ep5? He's really a hot snack, lol.

Anyway, I've not read the original manga yet, but I felt like the character was not that well developed despite the cool plot that keep moving the character forward. Some emotional scenes felt cut short and there are some remnants of anime/manga-style storytelling/conflict clearing that doesn't really translate well into live action.

I would like to first stated that ss1 was better for me. And that thought crept into my mind as early as ss2 ep2 (ep1 was nice and pleasant tho) and got hammered home to become a fact around the middle. But despite that, does it make this season bad? No really. It was still a good show with some high quality aspect. I was not enjoying it as I did the last season.

Let's talk about the last episode.
The director's reaction was really funny how he's shaken to the point that he cannot use his potential anymore. That was wrapped up really fast. On one hand, I appreciate the swiftness they employed to swipe the mess out early as there are better moments to come, but on the other hand, I'm gonna miss the conflict between Pang and the Director.

The star moments, for me in this last episode, is the round table meeting at the aftermath. Director was the one formidable opposing force that's been threatened them from the start and now that he's no more, they have to muster themselves up to exercise the freedom in the aftermath that they've earn. Well, it's not that grandiose as I made it seemed, but it was the moment I genuinely enjoy in this finale. It was not that showstoppingly great, but it serve the emotional graph somewhat.

The conclusion was........okay. It was too quick for my liking, I know that they returned to the original ending, but the roller coaster ride this season introduced really downplayed the original intention of the original "everyone has potential" ending. The stakes are already higher and the conflicts and problems are so entangled to the point that the idealistic ending from the original might not be the great conclusion anymore. I really agree with Future Grace's idea of making everyone not Gifted anymore, and it's the same conclusion I came to as I watched ep12 too.

Things I find is a bad taste:
- Oh right, now I understand the point of retconing the potential of Pang and Director, because if not, there won't be any reason the Director can be easily taken down. I don't like it, but they had to conclude the story, I guess. I had the "you can do that?" feeling nagging inside all the time.

- Oh right, people forgot that Grace exist is a small thing they introduced last episode..... yeah, that doesn't amount to anything more meaningful or have any relevancy than just filling the plothole.

- I have mixed feeling with Future Grace. Having her step the stake up for the finale is fine and all, but it just felt a bit strange. It felt more like another case of pushing the action to the extreme just to serve the plot twist and drama. I agree with everyone not have potentials, especially after all the drama we went through but she had to do it like that?

That's it for the cons. It would've been a lot more if every episode has been great so far, but my hopes went tumbling down the hill from as early as ep2 so it's not surpirse.
All in all, I find that the stepping down of SandOtNim, really hurt this season. His original plotline works really well, as we see in the first season. (Go watch his original film, it was really funny and interesting.) At first, I thought he would just be writing the script, but last time I checked, his name was not in the credit at all except that "original story by SandOtNim." His directing style is sorely missing in this season too. I missed all the dynamic choreographed scene and clever camera. I mean, he directed Ohm's, Claire's and Mon's episode last season and those are one of the charming and flavorful stylistic presentation out of all the episodes. It might not be that emotionally intense like with others, but it's really nice. At least Punn's episode's director who directed all ss2 really do well with some emotionally intense scenes.

The amount of relief I felt when this season ends.... lol.
I don't think the last episode was anti-climatic, because to me, this season already killed itself early on, so the ending wasn't that out of expected. There were nice moments tho, more in the spoiler.

Unfortunately, most of bl drama from gmmtv are an adaptation of a thai bl novel, which mostly started off from writer websites that are steep in fanfiction. Most of the bl novel from those sites are written by straight girls who need to explore their sexual desire through fantasizing 2 hot men having intense moments together, or in some case 1 hot man and a self-insert feminine man. And everything is derived from there. There are some really good quality bl novels out there, but it cannot outrun the popularity of bl novel that are more fanfic-ish and has abundant of 18+ scenes. Or some other case is that the plot was altered a bit to fit with what the adaptation was going for. And gmmtv is capitalizing on the fanbase of both the actors and the novel fans. The only good queer show from gmmtv is 3 Will Be Free as that show is an original and not planned to be promoted as a bl from the start.
In thailand, the rising of these bl shows really started the debate of the quality and representation of queer community with fans of these bl show often argue that it was not meant to represent anything as it was just purely fantasy. There were even trends saying that thai bl shows are not LGBTQ shows.

OH RIGHT
And I love the fact that they brought up the legendary disappeared Mr.Pom wallet into the banter.

I strongly suggest you watch the first season first. It will be less confusing that way, plus there are carried over things from last season.

Not Prim, but the woman who played future Grace. She is a very vocal supporter of the protests on SNS, and she gave some utility support to the protests, mostly food. People who support the cause see her being one of the famous people who do the most, started donating money to her so she can better support the protests making her a support queen of this protests. In a way, the scene where future Grace telling how they will win in the future will surely give a powerful encouragement for people involved.

Until the second to last episode, the illogical leap and bound, with weird dialogues this season serve is still going strong! But there were good moments.
- I love the scene with Graces. Those are so powerful. Especially if you know the the actress' bg and her relationship with the current protests. What she and Prim said to the director is just awesome. Tho why does he need Pang there and it's really weird seeing him just standing there with his little reaction.
- Pang's message is nice in a vacuum, but it kinda sound preachy to me, especially toward the current protest in thailand. The way they shot it with Pang saying that directly to our face is really preachy. I think it would feel better if it was shown more like we give him privacy as he admit his defeat better than having him say that to our face.
- Ohm's moment in the final part is a bit weird but it shine out in the end. A lot of things feel kinda illogical how it played out, but his message about the education system and exam is nice.
- I don't like any scenes with Chanon. His role in this season is just weird and bad. I also don't like the scene where Mr.Pom persuade him. I don't know what these 2 relationships are anymore, and I was a bit disappointed that the potential development between these 2 old friends is just down to this.... It feels so weird seeing them working together now because I don't really know how they feel with each other. A lot of the dialogues between them ring a bit hollow to me because of that. Nice cinematography tho, that's the plus, I guess.
- PUNN ARE YOU OPENING A SALON WITH THAT STEAMER MACHINE LOL?? I'm really glad for Korn. He can finally rest and have peace. The scene between him and Mon is nice, but the small conflict between Korn and Punn is a bit stupid. I know Punn is worried, but I think he should have a better argument especially when it's Korn who everyone knows would love to get rid of his potential. I mean... look at his exciting face
- The director seems kinda nerfed. He could do more with his potential but they had to wrap up for the next last episode I guess.
- The scene between mr.Pom and director in the infirmary is a bit annoying... their conversation feel like fillers since the real main point of that scene is the director ordering mr.Pom to erase Grace from everyone's memory anyway.... to which I don't see the point. I know the director had to do it or else Time would find her, but it felt so lame seeing the director use that as a small threat against Grace.
- The PangWave moment is STRONG in this! The scene with them talking about their future in the lab room is really cute. I don't normally ship anyone willy-nilly. I don't even ship some BL couples in their intended bl series, but this I had to ship and express. The eye contacts, the way they look in to each other...it might not be romantic but it's so dearly. And no, I ship just PangWave now, not NanonChimon, sorry.

That's all I can think of I guess...

I KNOW RIGHT?
A lot of things in this season is really just made to serve the moment or plot-twist too much that it can seem a bit illogical.

The dialogues have some problem here and there, sure, but the delivery, the acting, the direction is just really bad. It's so frustrating since I've seen these actors do absolutely better in other series, but this is just awkward. Everything looks so uncomfortable, and I'm not even talking about the scene where they are supposed to be uncomfortable. I don't expect much from the storyline from the start since it's pretty clear that it's another young fujoushi fantasy type of series, so I don't expect much substance. EP1 was really cute and fun, but EP2's acting and the direction is just a disaster. Every single scenes in university are so bad I can't even make sense of anything. Podd looks so awkward in this kind of role, too, and I feel a bit sorry for him. The only saving grace is Khaotung's portrayal of Chonlatee and some funny situation here and there from Mike-Toptap(but omg, even them have some awkward acting too here and there, and I blame the director). And I assure you, if the acting and the direction was better, the jokes and even some issues with the dialogues will be so much more torelable.

I hope you guys have a better experience reading the subs. Good subs can make bad dialogues more tolerable because it can take your mind out of the acting.

oh yeah, that too.... I feel so awkward seeing him in the group again. Logically, it's not that bad if everyone can now know that he's just been manipulated but is actually still good at heart. It's just that it'd be nice if we got a scene to resolute that matter, but I guess they kinda have to speed this up a bit since they only get 2 episodes left.

I'm glad the school water is brought up again... finally falling into places(a little too late but whatever) and lol imagine the powerful message it can give to that mineral water ads that the characters been drinking from.

I'm really excited for the Director-Grace face-off next episode. I got mental goosebump considering the actor casting and what they represented in the current situation in Thailand: A military personnel under the current junta corrupted government vs. a pro-democracy outspoken actress who is a huge support queen to the protests.

I am a bit sad and disappointed that a lot has to be sacrificed for the plot to finally falling into places in the end. There are many issues that feel rushed. This season is a bit too plot-and-plot-twist-driven that the characters fell quite short. I mean, the character's motivation and stuff is fine and all but the leap and bound and the extremity they go just to serve the plot twist leave a bit of a bad taste. Plus the way the story is told is not help with that issue either. (but it help the plot twist tremendously. There were good ones here and there but some just feels awkward and forced and I know that some who disagree will say that it got them completely fooled and that's a legit opinion too.) All I'm hoping now is that the last 2 episodes don't disappoint, so we can end it with a bang for all the roughness of bad taste I've been through.

Now the story finally come around. I'm glad we're through with the messy phase with weird pacing and dialogues. More opinion in spoilers...

Your thread basically inspired me to keep up with the news.

Also, one weird thing: this episode 10 is opening up weird question for me and this is kind of a risky territory here, so you've been warned. The interesting but weird thing about this is when compared to what's happening in thailand with student protest mobs. Many adults on the opposing side who either support the current government or support the royal families have claimed that the students alone cannot have the ability to organize these protest events. They must have someone else, or some corporates that can back these students up with monetary support and feed them scripts for the speech, and even go as far as claiming the events was conspired with foreign's country wish to sabotage thailand, justifying the act of governments and authorities. It is a conspiracy theory alright, but compare that to what happened in this episode with the revelation of Director Supot's grand scheme, the series is now giving me mixed feelings on its accidental implication of that. It's really weird.

And another fact is the casting. Director Supot's actor has ranks in thai military, the institution which the student oppose. While the lady who we saw in Grace's dream/potential is an actress who is one vital support of the student protests, voicing her agreement with the protest and also give the rallies big food supports. People who support the students' causes really donate money to this actress because she really do use the money for the protests. After realizing this fact, seeing that actress in this series is giving me the weird goosebump.

I dunno what triggered me, but I was laughing the hell out of episode 10, lol. If I have to guess, it could be that the plot twist just keep coming one after the other that I don't feel like I care anymore so I may have resorted to just enjoy and laugh at each plot twist instead? Could be... but let's say I'm excited for the next episode.