This review may contain spoilers
Wasted talent
Only You was very disappointing. We know that LingOrm can deliver; we’ve seen their acting in The Secret of Us. They routinely show better chemistry at fan events than they did in this, and that’s not on them, that is bad directing. Channel 3 has the resources to make amazing GL stories, and yet they seem to be trading on the star power of the actresses instead of producing quality content.
None of the body guards were believable. Body guards in stilettos? At the very least they should be in flat shoes, probably athletic shoes. Body guards need to be ready to run, fight, or manage a crowd, not ready for a night out or a fashion runway. I realize that Thai TV leans into a specific aesthetic for gl actresses, and even ignoring all the problems with that, if you are unwilling to forgo the aesthetic to build a believable character, then perhaps stick to characters for whom the aesthetic is believable. The one and only positive I can say here is that the gun handling was better than most shows; at least they didn't run around with their fingers on the trigger just itching for a negligent discharge to kill some random innocent bystander. With the hype around the gun training they did, I still expected more, but I liked seeing all those fingers straight down the frame of the gun exactly where they belong.
The plot is lacking and the writing terrible. It’s obvious from the two main scenes from the trailer that they hadn’t finished, or perhaps even started, the script when the pilot was created. Major plot points shifted between pilot and production. In the pilot Tawan says Ayla is “just a girl” so I believed the story was going to be another age-gap romance. While I’m relieved that this wasn’t another example of Thailand speed running all the worst LGBTQ+ tropes the west had to get past, it was jarring to have a major change like this. Then when Tawan confesses to Ayla in the pilot there is an attempt on Ayla’s life, so understandably I was ready for an action scene that never came in the production, once again pulling me out of the story. There are ways to create pilots that subvert expectations in order to keep the viewer guessing and engaged as the story unfolds, but this came across as poor continuity and a lack of care about the story.
I kept waiting for it to get better and pull me in, but sadly it never happened.
None of the body guards were believable. Body guards in stilettos? At the very least they should be in flat shoes, probably athletic shoes. Body guards need to be ready to run, fight, or manage a crowd, not ready for a night out or a fashion runway. I realize that Thai TV leans into a specific aesthetic for gl actresses, and even ignoring all the problems with that, if you are unwilling to forgo the aesthetic to build a believable character, then perhaps stick to characters for whom the aesthetic is believable. The one and only positive I can say here is that the gun handling was better than most shows; at least they didn't run around with their fingers on the trigger just itching for a negligent discharge to kill some random innocent bystander. With the hype around the gun training they did, I still expected more, but I liked seeing all those fingers straight down the frame of the gun exactly where they belong.
The plot is lacking and the writing terrible. It’s obvious from the two main scenes from the trailer that they hadn’t finished, or perhaps even started, the script when the pilot was created. Major plot points shifted between pilot and production. In the pilot Tawan says Ayla is “just a girl” so I believed the story was going to be another age-gap romance. While I’m relieved that this wasn’t another example of Thailand speed running all the worst LGBTQ+ tropes the west had to get past, it was jarring to have a major change like this. Then when Tawan confesses to Ayla in the pilot there is an attempt on Ayla’s life, so understandably I was ready for an action scene that never came in the production, once again pulling me out of the story. There are ways to create pilots that subvert expectations in order to keep the viewer guessing and engaged as the story unfolds, but this came across as poor continuity and a lack of care about the story.
I kept waiting for it to get better and pull me in, but sadly it never happened.
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