lmiller5100

“Duang With You” arrived with tremendous promise, charm, and a breakthrough couple in TeeTeePor. TeeTee displayed a genius for playing “goofy.” Most “golden retriever” actors play goofy to the camera, and it eventually becomes trite, but TeeTee played “goofy” in character and to his scene partner without it ever feeling forced. That is hard, and I was impressed. Playing a diametrically opposite character, Por portrays a withdrawn, emotionally-suppressed musician. In other hands that could quickly have become a stereotype, but Por imbued his role with an odd, almost hypnotic intensity that gave his silence weight. That is also hard, and I was also impressed. That set up the opportunity for two interesting, unusual characters to discover each other and grow together, but the series ultimately falters due to the writers' and director's profound lack of trust in their own characters. Instead of allowing the relationship to flourish through the agency of its leads, the production retreats into the easy cliché of introducing “drama” with a capital “D” in episode 10. Not only was it the cliché of using conflict as a substitute for character development, the conflict was such an extreme and horrific tonal whiplash as to completely jar the viewer out of the story. The true tragedy wasn’t the backstory; it was that the production team abandoned its unique voice for a checklist of clichés. “Duang With You” is a frustrating reminder that many creators still haven't learned that a well-written character is more compelling than a sudden, unearned tragedy.