This review may contain spoilers
Heart skipped too much it flatlined
Let's start with the pros:
- William and Est looks cute as a couple. The kisses also were good. I generally hate scenes where the actors kiss like they're fish out of water.
- The cinematography is great, I really liked the arcade scenes especially.
- The music? S-tier. Destined? Went platinum in my house.
- The acting was good. I like seeing Est cry. On their next series, let's have him cry every episode.
Now, let's begin:
- I enjoy slow burn but I hate stale characters. this one quickly went nowhere. They were flirting by EP2 but both main characters are too passive to be upfront with their feelings. - The movie subplot ran for 3-ish episodes. Plus, they didn't even have any scenes confessing their feelings. They were blue-balling each other, then kissed, and they're boyfriends. Cool.
- Jun not being an SL is mind-boggling. He had Po's best interest at heart. What ticks me off is that Jun tried helping Po with his actual work while the poor guy was working on shooting and editing their MV. Then after the arcade confrontation scene he quickly slinked back in the sea of side characters. I think this also applied to the rest of MARS members after their episodes.
- While Thame is a good guy, he also tends to be selfish and manipulative. Who demands changing the sandwich order from tuna to BLT just because Po ate it while he was with Earn? Also, I find his declaration of love too self-serving. "Continue being by my side, no matter what I'm going to face". Um, what about Po? His dreams?
- It's sad seeing Po not having a stable career at the end of the series. I believe in following your dreams, but he just threw everything out the ONER rooftop the moment he met Thame and decided that he'll just be the idol's boyfriend. There could be a great character development plot in Po after Earn used him, but he just regressed back to not having his own agency just because he's in a relationship.
- There couldve been great conversations about idol and fan culture, idol contracts, fans' parasocial relationships with idols, idols dating rt but aside from Pepper's relationship, there weren't a lot. Thame was roaming the city like he's not an idol.
- I can handle suspension of disbelief, but the way ONER handled MARS was nothing short of an absolute fantasy. Pemika can easily enforce the contracts and sue left right and center, but sure, she willingly terminated MARS' contract, willingly gave up the trademark, and willingly paid breaching the contract with the Korean team.
- The final climax felt like a bump in the road rather than a roller coaster drop. The stakes are so low I didnt even get the chance to invest my feelings even a bit. I also found it absurd that they suddenly planned a heist during the concert and the entire sound and video system can be plugged and unplugged to reroute it to a freaking laptop. This can't be real, right?
Towards the middle I prayed Pemika sues the hell out of everyone. I'm with her on this lol
ThamePo started out really strong with a promising plot, but it quickly went downhill. WilliamEst is a good couple with great chemistry, but they also need a damn good series to back this up.
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