kittykatja

Very good watch, but conflicted on the ending.

It's been a day since I sat down to watch this movie and believe I am as clear of mind now as I was right after watching.
I will start off by saying the movie is very good. The tension in the movie stays as high as the frustration levels of the circumstances throughout the entire movie. You feel for all the characters to a certain degree before the stuff hits the fan. The scenery is a place where you would think is peaceful and plentiful, but after viewing becomes a battle ground tainted by conceit and blood. The music was well placed and unsettling, maintaining uncertainty in tense moments and made you overthink at certain points of other characters intentions.

Mo did her job as an antagonist to me; fighting tooth and nail for something she felt entitled to, while doing anything in her fragile being to keep every iota of its earnings. Seung has her ups and downs and was a bit frustrating with her own desire in ownership, but I don't hate her grieving process as much as I do Mo. You feel for Thongkam with all the unfairness (and feels even more tragic since the story takes place a year and half before same-sex marriage became far more legally recognized) and I found myself rooting for him to at least find some peace.

ENTER JINGNA. Now, I will come out and say I am bias towards Keng. If not for Jeff acting as Thongkam, Keng as Jingna was one of the other reasons why I watched this movie. That being said, Jingna is the very reason why my rating of this movie falls a little. The acting is fantastic, exactly what the story embodied for someone practically uninvolved in the family drama yet acting off of what everyone else whispers should or shouldn't be about the situation. Jingna has a moment with Thongkam, and I felt mixed about it. Was he being manipulated or was it real? The movie pushes that it's real, but then lessen his screen time until, BOOM "let's get married and run away" then bLAH he dead. The death had me surprised...but not in a good way. Yes, his character is blameless, beautiful, and tragic; but in the context of the moment it felt overdone. In my opinion, I think Thongkam threatening a child implantment in Mo was more shocking of a climax to the scene than (literally) last second death of good brother/boyfriend. Somewhat of a needless shock value moment just to wrap up where the characters need to go. And then, my uncertainty about what Thongkam and Jingna had was reinforced by the leaving of the durian seed/bark at the end. Was Thongkam moving on like it never happened or leaving it like a respectful gravestone? Thongkam fought angerly to have Sek's ring back, and you're telling me after everything he leaves the only product he and Jingna notarized out of love behind? Again, was what they had real? If I don't think hard, Jingna is someone innocent caught in the toxic family crossfires and has a sudden bad ending. If I DO think, Jingna is far more disposable to Thongkam and the plot than they let on...and I find that disrespectful when looking back on the work as a whole.

So, with that rant over, I still had a very good time on the edge of my seat throughout it all, left empty by the end and hoping Thongkam and Mo choose to do something better themselves after the credits roll. I still love what the cast did to tell an insufferable reaction to family death, and other than JingNA, I would give the overall watch experience an 8/10.

Read More

First PROPER Omegaverse show

As someone who has watched PitBabe and was thoroughly disappointed, I expected a show like this to emerge sheerly out of distaste. The fact they were able to complete a whole show involving very accurate extended lore is invigorating. As a watcher who knows the basics of ABO presentation, Enigma entering the fray (cue Smash Ult. track) and introduce it to the world audience is cool to witness. I had a great fascination going in.
That being said, this show is engaging in developing an understanding and living in this world that is also new to the concept. It is inviting to a serious plot and hooks you every episode, making you wonder will happen next. And that is a good start for a concept with such notoriety and potential...but would have faired better with more time, particularly for pregnancy arcs and Gao Tu and Shen Wenlang. I enjoyed getting to witness all of Sheng Shaoyou and Hua Yong's in their twisted and lighthearted(?) glory onscreen, however, I really would have loved more emphasis on the toll pregnancy took on Shaoyou AND Gao Tu. I'm not crazed about MPreg, but for intriguing me as a viewer with a complication in the last episode makes it feel not as important as it should be. Especially with how quickly they time jumped to "yay kids" and show ended.
Speaking of, I feel more a loss at the lack of Gao Tu and Shen Wenlang. On some days, I found a desire to read the novel and see how it ended for them, only to find they were less in the main story than in the show amd covered more in bonus content. Which is unfortunate and somewhat infuriating, as their storyline is very compelling to work with. Whether you know the genre or not, you can’t tell me an omega hiding his identity and a pregnancy for the love of a dumbass alpha isn't a draw to come back every week. But it didn't seem so to the writers, sadly, and somewhat ignores this to fuel how crazy Hua Yong is for Sheng Shaoyou. (Not that there is anything wrong witu that.)
Did I dislike this show overall? NO.
I enjoyed the story of Hua Yong and his crazed obsession with Sheng Shaoyou. Eliot Huang did fantastic with playing both omega and enigma, adding to his range and character. Though he is potentially the most exciting character of the cast in question, he made fan out of me with his performance alone. The plot dancing around Hua Yong trying to "woo" Sheng Shaoyou did keep my attention and it was fun to see the two stretch the dynamic of two high class individuals (in more ways than one) pursue each other.
In short, come for the concept, stay in hopes Gao Tu gets respect (always), and live for the crazy that is Hua Yong. A decent start to the future of this genre and many more shows to come.
I rate it a 7.5/10 overall.

Read More