This review may contain spoilers
Impression upto episode 10
7/10 stats, only watched for the leads chemistry.
Positives:
1. Acting was generally good, esp the leads
2.Plot thus far has built a lot of angst and tension between the characters but also gave us some heartwarming moments.
3. Loved the intense friendship between the leads and the loyal friendship between the leads and other minor characters.
Negatives:
1. Repetitive plot. Every episode starts like this: homeroom scene, fight ensues, saint apologizing to shin (aka being a doormat), fight ensues, saint getting beaten/insulted, saint apologizing/beaten/sacrificing, teachers (s)hitting on each other or on their students. Scenes are repetitive even within the same episode, I ended up skipping after a while.
2. Leads hog 90% of the screen time, 5% by the TB thug trifecta and all minor characters fill the other 5%. A lot of the minor characters are underdeveloped, including the teachers, who are supposed to be mains. Though I loved the leads, this was problematic because Saint was mostly apologizing or getting beaten by Shin which got ridiculously repetitive. Saint, Shin needs his space and time to heal, piss off elsewhere please.
3. The story is riddled with plot holes. The personalities of the leads in the flashback and in the present is so different. Saint was a thug, but is now a doormat. Shin was a peaceful dude, but is now happy to hit others at the slightest provocation. I guess their past made them evolve this way but these personality changes are nevertheless very drastic. Who starts a gang at 16 and decide to hit their bf (best friend who they claim to love) to smithereens because they wanted to leave for a better future? Not a friend who loves him surely, but that was our doormat Saint you say? I'll let it slide since they were teenagers after all. Saint going completely off the radar of Shin, who was once his bf to now where he constantly pressurizes Shin to be his friend again doesn't make sense in hindsight. Did seeing Shin after 3 years open up all the floodgate of emotions? If he truly loved his friend he would not have ran away from him, but then again why not do it again now? How does Shin end up in the same school as Saint anyway? Was that ever explained? AFAIK Saint took a 2 year break to run away from his friendship and joins TB, while Shin was recuperating from his injuries during this time and joined UP to continue his education and made some friends. But how did they end up in the same year though? Isnt Saint supposed to start schooling where he dropped off? Especially since the merge happened on the first day of school, how did Saint even make friends with those TB girls? I'm hoping this gap is addressed in the later episodes. I'm also not sold on why Shin who claims to hate Saint agreed to go to the gas station to convince Saint to come back to school. Isn't he supposed to hate seeing his face at school everyday? Isnt that what he wanted? Are there no other schools in this area where Saint can go to continue his education? Shin was so reluctant to make up with his bf for 8 episodes, then bam, they hang out with eachother's family and have ice cream. I would have loved to see a gradual melting of Shin's icy heart instead of a forced event.
4. Plot holes aside, the screenplay stuck to its repetitive script for most of the episodes until every now and then some other characters were introduced for maximum drama like Saint's dad, Shin's mom, principal, mafia gang etc. These characters and their storyline don't wrap up well before the next minor character is introduced and we are left hanging with with that thread almost forgetting they existed until they were brought back. Point being, the screenplay felt disjointed at times and was quite predictable, losing its grip on me. Even the big reveal on how Saint and Shin divorced, I mean unfriended, was not super surprising since they showed a lot of their fall out in snippets so I didn't feel emotionally tense when it was finally revealed.
5. Teachers were utterly useless. Yes, it includes the homeroom ones too. They were all ignoring the actual problem with class 2 and instead focused on issues pertaining the main leads. The school looks super empty, not many characters had screentime, nor other subjects were explored. So far, the Thai teacher tried to teach a lesson, English teacher never spoke a single word in English nor taught a class, the other subject teachers were almost non existent, but there was a fine PE teacher to save the school from complete embarrassment seen hanging around basketball courts.
6. Queer Bait. For the record I went into the show with skepticism after reading the reviews that said this was closeted BL than a bromance. I did think people were probably too quick to judge intense friendship and went delulu mode thinking there was anything more to it. But they're right, there was something more about this Bromance, more so than those BL censored to Bromance adaptations from China. There wasn't explicit physical intimacy like holding hands or kisses, but a more subtle tones of two closeted best friends in love with each other but are too afraid to confess. Those love confessions every episode, those lingering glances, that need to be around each other all the time, goes beyond the friendship line. Heck Saint even made a ridiculous gang policy just to prevent his bf from ever leaving him. I mean if you truly care for his future, you would have let him go so he could play soccer and live his dreams, but nah you were completely overwhelmed by the thought of separating from your bf that you couldn't control your aggression and seriously injured him for life. No heterosexual love interest for either mains so far which is hella sus. Its hard to believe these two can develop romantic relationship outside of eachother. Heck their teenage hormones must be raging rn. I hate being baited like that.
I'm thinking of dropping this drama on epi 10 since the leads kinda got together, but I want to low key see a resolution to the mafia story, which was the most interesting sub plot threads imo.
PS. Mark Pakin was perfect as always and shone in all of his 5% screentime on this show. He was the best actor in this show for me, followed by Nani, then Sky.
Positives:
1. Acting was generally good, esp the leads
2.Plot thus far has built a lot of angst and tension between the characters but also gave us some heartwarming moments.
3. Loved the intense friendship between the leads and the loyal friendship between the leads and other minor characters.
Negatives:
1. Repetitive plot. Every episode starts like this: homeroom scene, fight ensues, saint apologizing to shin (aka being a doormat), fight ensues, saint getting beaten/insulted, saint apologizing/beaten/sacrificing, teachers (s)hitting on each other or on their students. Scenes are repetitive even within the same episode, I ended up skipping after a while.
2. Leads hog 90% of the screen time, 5% by the TB thug trifecta and all minor characters fill the other 5%. A lot of the minor characters are underdeveloped, including the teachers, who are supposed to be mains. Though I loved the leads, this was problematic because Saint was mostly apologizing or getting beaten by Shin which got ridiculously repetitive. Saint, Shin needs his space and time to heal, piss off elsewhere please.
3. The story is riddled with plot holes. The personalities of the leads in the flashback and in the present is so different. Saint was a thug, but is now a doormat. Shin was a peaceful dude, but is now happy to hit others at the slightest provocation. I guess their past made them evolve this way but these personality changes are nevertheless very drastic. Who starts a gang at 16 and decide to hit their bf (best friend who they claim to love) to smithereens because they wanted to leave for a better future? Not a friend who loves him surely, but that was our doormat Saint you say? I'll let it slide since they were teenagers after all. Saint going completely off the radar of Shin, who was once his bf to now where he constantly pressurizes Shin to be his friend again doesn't make sense in hindsight. Did seeing Shin after 3 years open up all the floodgate of emotions? If he truly loved his friend he would not have ran away from him, but then again why not do it again now? How does Shin end up in the same school as Saint anyway? Was that ever explained? AFAIK Saint took a 2 year break to run away from his friendship and joins TB, while Shin was recuperating from his injuries during this time and joined UP to continue his education and made some friends. But how did they end up in the same year though? Isnt Saint supposed to start schooling where he dropped off? Especially since the merge happened on the first day of school, how did Saint even make friends with those TB girls? I'm hoping this gap is addressed in the later episodes. I'm also not sold on why Shin who claims to hate Saint agreed to go to the gas station to convince Saint to come back to school. Isn't he supposed to hate seeing his face at school everyday? Isnt that what he wanted? Are there no other schools in this area where Saint can go to continue his education? Shin was so reluctant to make up with his bf for 8 episodes, then bam, they hang out with eachother's family and have ice cream. I would have loved to see a gradual melting of Shin's icy heart instead of a forced event.
4. Plot holes aside, the screenplay stuck to its repetitive script for most of the episodes until every now and then some other characters were introduced for maximum drama like Saint's dad, Shin's mom, principal, mafia gang etc. These characters and their storyline don't wrap up well before the next minor character is introduced and we are left hanging with with that thread almost forgetting they existed until they were brought back. Point being, the screenplay felt disjointed at times and was quite predictable, losing its grip on me. Even the big reveal on how Saint and Shin divorced, I mean unfriended, was not super surprising since they showed a lot of their fall out in snippets so I didn't feel emotionally tense when it was finally revealed.
5. Teachers were utterly useless. Yes, it includes the homeroom ones too. They were all ignoring the actual problem with class 2 and instead focused on issues pertaining the main leads. The school looks super empty, not many characters had screentime, nor other subjects were explored. So far, the Thai teacher tried to teach a lesson, English teacher never spoke a single word in English nor taught a class, the other subject teachers were almost non existent, but there was a fine PE teacher to save the school from complete embarrassment seen hanging around basketball courts.
6. Queer Bait. For the record I went into the show with skepticism after reading the reviews that said this was closeted BL than a bromance. I did think people were probably too quick to judge intense friendship and went delulu mode thinking there was anything more to it. But they're right, there was something more about this Bromance, more so than those BL censored to Bromance adaptations from China. There wasn't explicit physical intimacy like holding hands or kisses, but a more subtle tones of two closeted best friends in love with each other but are too afraid to confess. Those love confessions every episode, those lingering glances, that need to be around each other all the time, goes beyond the friendship line. Heck Saint even made a ridiculous gang policy just to prevent his bf from ever leaving him. I mean if you truly care for his future, you would have let him go so he could play soccer and live his dreams, but nah you were completely overwhelmed by the thought of separating from your bf that you couldn't control your aggression and seriously injured him for life. No heterosexual love interest for either mains so far which is hella sus. Its hard to believe these two can develop romantic relationship outside of eachother. Heck their teenage hormones must be raging rn. I hate being baited like that.
I'm thinking of dropping this drama on epi 10 since the leads kinda got together, but I want to low key see a resolution to the mafia story, which was the most interesting sub plot threads imo.
PS. Mark Pakin was perfect as always and shone in all of his 5% screentime on this show. He was the best actor in this show for me, followed by Nani, then Sky.
Was this review helpful to you?
