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why do i still keep watching this series??!
In the fifth installment of the University Series, where you'd expect the screenwriters would get better at adapting a wattpad novel for screen, somehow they keep getting worse with each season. Via as a character never truly stood out to me in the previous adaptations, but I am nothing if not a *sucker* for best friends to lovers trope - so I was genuinely looking forward to this (even when MDL ratings told me not to). Unfortunately, the other reviews and ratings are correct.
Before expressing my disappointment, let me point out the few things i LOVE about the series, and the reason why i *will* watch the 6th season too.
1. The Group - I think the OG writer has done a great job creating this friend group. Their banter and moments are my favourite part of this compilation series.
2. Social Media - while a lot of other modern stories dont fully include just how much we are online in today's reality, I think this series does a great job at capturing the online world and language.
3. Obsessive fan culture - Though we didn't dive deep but I liked the commentary on fan culture and the death of private life for celebrities - i also liked the critique of love team contracts where the "couple" needs to maintain the relationship even when off-cam.
4. That one episode that was just full of easter eggs and everyone's actual first-meets.
Now for the letdowns,
Acting has never been a great sell for this series, but MAN this season was especially bad. i felt NO chemistry between the leads, particularly from the FL side. they just *always* felt like friends to me instead of a couple. The dialogues were cringey (but thats true for every season), and the kiss scenes were SO AWKWARD. the "sex" scenes even worse. I feel like it would have been better if the director had decided to just insinuate those scenes than whatever they did in the show. I FELT SECOND HAND EMBARASSMENT IT WAS SO BAD.
And while we are talking about the director, why was the handheld camerawork SO JARRING? i genuinely felt dizzy while watching the show, i was convinced i'm having a vertigo episode. To make matters worse, the screenwriters didn't do well either - the couple kept having the same fights, the characters were so inconsistent going from “i was selfish i need to apologise” to “we shouldn’t have ever met” to “i need to apologise” in the same damn episode; it was truly tiring to watch.
Also, this one's petty but, WHY SO MANY DAMN FLASHBACKS AND MONTAGES?? EVERY DAMN TIME HE SINGS.
In conclusion, I think this entire series would've benefited A LOT if the creators had continued to keep each season only 10 episodes long.
Before expressing my disappointment, let me point out the few things i LOVE about the series, and the reason why i *will* watch the 6th season too.
1. The Group - I think the OG writer has done a great job creating this friend group. Their banter and moments are my favourite part of this compilation series.
2. Social Media - while a lot of other modern stories dont fully include just how much we are online in today's reality, I think this series does a great job at capturing the online world and language.
3. Obsessive fan culture - Though we didn't dive deep but I liked the commentary on fan culture and the death of private life for celebrities - i also liked the critique of love team contracts where the "couple" needs to maintain the relationship even when off-cam.
4. That one episode that was just full of easter eggs and everyone's actual first-meets.
Now for the letdowns,
Acting has never been a great sell for this series, but MAN this season was especially bad. i felt NO chemistry between the leads, particularly from the FL side. they just *always* felt like friends to me instead of a couple. The dialogues were cringey (but thats true for every season), and the kiss scenes were SO AWKWARD. the "sex" scenes even worse. I feel like it would have been better if the director had decided to just insinuate those scenes than whatever they did in the show. I FELT SECOND HAND EMBARASSMENT IT WAS SO BAD.
And while we are talking about the director, why was the handheld camerawork SO JARRING? i genuinely felt dizzy while watching the show, i was convinced i'm having a vertigo episode. To make matters worse, the screenwriters didn't do well either - the couple kept having the same fights, the characters were so inconsistent going from “i was selfish i need to apologise” to “we shouldn’t have ever met” to “i need to apologise” in the same damn episode; it was truly tiring to watch.
Also, this one's petty but, WHY SO MANY DAMN FLASHBACKS AND MONTAGES?? EVERY DAMN TIME HE SINGS.
In conclusion, I think this entire series would've benefited A LOT if the creators had continued to keep each season only 10 episodes long.
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