This review may contain spoilers
Solid Drama - Which could've been outstanding
The premise of ThamePo while focusing on the Main Couple wasn't just them but a critical Review of some Aspects of the whole Idol/Boygroup Industry in South-East Asia. I'm a K-Pop fan and to this day Korea hasn't made one good and compelling Drama around the Industry. But a Thai BL Drama managed to do a solid Job! I personally like this premise and they did a good Job on touching the Subject, how quite often the Companies prioritise Profit over Art & Artist.
And that is also one of the, mind you very few, negative Points in this Series. They made this the main narrative and focus subject around the whole "we wanna show the dark side of the Idol Industry". Did they touch some other Subjects? Yes but with far less weight to them. Here is were the courage seemed to have left the writers a bit.
We got the reminder that Idols should be allowed to have romantic relationships, tough without any real impact. Sadly they didn't touch the subject of mental health all to much. Nano's Solo Story, sort of, would've been the perfect setting but that was also the one with the least amount of actual focus on that Character. So in summary they tried and didn't really fail but also weren't brave enough to really dive into the dark sides of this Industry.
How was the acting? LYKN as more or less first time actors, did a really good Job! They definitely do have a solid acting Basics, which is something today's Idol's should have. Did they all show the same Level of acting Skills? No but that is also dependent on the fact, that not all Member's got equally time to shine or not shine.
Lego and Hong had the least Screen Time and its hard for me to really comment on their acting. While, apart from William, Nut and Tui had the most.
Nut's acting was a delight, he made me love his character and also wanna hit his character at the same time. Nut was easily able to keep up with Est's acting. Tui's Role wasn't an easy one to portray for someone with very limited experience in acting and it did show. He wasn't bad but parts of his character weren't really believable and sadly came across a bit weak.
Now for William, his acting grew right along side his characters own development. In the beginning there were quite a few weak points but one actually could see Williams own personal grow as an Actor together with the Growth of the character he portrayed. That shows he's got quite the potential as an actor in the future.
But the one that hit the nail right on its head was Est! I honestly never seen any other work from him, so i can't compare it to any older work but dang it he delivered. His acting was believable, sincere but not over the top. He portrayed Po's Journey from an agonizingly shy, none existent Self-esteem Character to a Self assured, cheeky and hopeful Person very very well. I'll for sure will watch any upcoming Projects of Est.
Now for the other Actors, I'm gonna be brutally honest. Except for the Main Adversary portrayed by Namfon, they didn't really leave that much of an impression. They were background noise mostly and the occasional comic relief. Namfon however did go the extra Mile. Her Pemika was an A-Grade A**hole! :) Without being over the top or being extremely dramatic. Pemika was a quite & composed A**hole, that at some point even made you believe she was actually a nice Person. She was scary really lol.
Production, Direction , Cinematography and Writing:
This was certainly no low Budget Production, might be one of the reason for only 13 Episodes. Did we get extremely flashy Sets? No! Which for this Series was spot on. For me part of this Series was a look behind the Curtain so to speak and the Sets represented that very well. While other Series feel almost "claustrophobic" with lack of Set variations, this Series simply had no need for many Sets. So they made a good decision to keep it confined and only go Big & Flashy for Key Scenes in the Series.
I applaud Mui and Job for the directing and the cinematography. I didn't really get to see much of the directing in the BTS, sadly. However, going by how smooth most of the Flow of the Series and most Scenes felt, Mui must have done an excellent job in directing. There really were only a miniscule few Scenes that felt a bit awkward and I forgot them all! So the directing did a proper and very good job.
This Series had beautiful Visuals and I don't mean just the Actors. I especially loved the use of Lighting in those Scenes were the mood was to be soft and intimate. Job made such, well, a good job. Especially one Scene got Stuck in my Memory, with their Shirts outside getting closer while they also physically did. Such a great Shot and smart Idea.
The writing for this Series was good albeit not perfect. I can't remember any cringe Dialogs at all. Where there Scenes which made me cringe? Sure but those Scenes were meant to made one cringe in a good way, which is a strange thing to say really. And Jun's U-Turn Line will forever be Stuck in my Brain, so good job there Writers! However as mentioned before, I really whished the Writers would've been a bit braver with certain Topics. That could've elevated it from a solid Drama, to an outstanding one.
Now for my Second big Complaint, which kept this Series from being outstanding: The at least two more Episodes it needed. The flow of this Series was amazing up until Ep. 8ish. That is when it began to rush because there were only 5 Episodes left. And sadly that also meant that some Storylines didn't get the proper amount of time, those would've needed to really make an impact. One was Per's Story which felt far to unfinished and the other was Nano's (Justice for Lego!). We got to know Jun and obviously Thames Story really well. Dylan and especially Pepper and Nano fell to the wayside!
While Jun's "Solo" Episode really focused on his Character and gave us some great Scenes, the other three Members sadly didn't get the same attention. We might have gotten one for Dylan which did Focus quite a lot on him but still less than Jun. While Pepper's Storyline should've had way more impact, the Focus was sadly more on Thame & Po there than on Pepper. And the Character that got the least attention was Nano. His "Solo" Episode, which should've given us an introduction and backstory, was mainly Focused on Jun's antic in making Thame jealous. Would they have added two or even three more Episodes, those other Characters would've gotten more time to shine and add to the overall Story.
However, the Ending was beautiful and satisfying. Its not an outstanding Series but its a good one and I do recommend it, even with some of its Flaws. I certainly enjoyed it and I'm sad it has ended.
And that is also one of the, mind you very few, negative Points in this Series. They made this the main narrative and focus subject around the whole "we wanna show the dark side of the Idol Industry". Did they touch some other Subjects? Yes but with far less weight to them. Here is were the courage seemed to have left the writers a bit.
We got the reminder that Idols should be allowed to have romantic relationships, tough without any real impact. Sadly they didn't touch the subject of mental health all to much. Nano's Solo Story, sort of, would've been the perfect setting but that was also the one with the least amount of actual focus on that Character. So in summary they tried and didn't really fail but also weren't brave enough to really dive into the dark sides of this Industry.
How was the acting? LYKN as more or less first time actors, did a really good Job! They definitely do have a solid acting Basics, which is something today's Idol's should have. Did they all show the same Level of acting Skills? No but that is also dependent on the fact, that not all Member's got equally time to shine or not shine.
Lego and Hong had the least Screen Time and its hard for me to really comment on their acting. While, apart from William, Nut and Tui had the most.
Nut's acting was a delight, he made me love his character and also wanna hit his character at the same time. Nut was easily able to keep up with Est's acting. Tui's Role wasn't an easy one to portray for someone with very limited experience in acting and it did show. He wasn't bad but parts of his character weren't really believable and sadly came across a bit weak.
Now for William, his acting grew right along side his characters own development. In the beginning there were quite a few weak points but one actually could see Williams own personal grow as an Actor together with the Growth of the character he portrayed. That shows he's got quite the potential as an actor in the future.
But the one that hit the nail right on its head was Est! I honestly never seen any other work from him, so i can't compare it to any older work but dang it he delivered. His acting was believable, sincere but not over the top. He portrayed Po's Journey from an agonizingly shy, none existent Self-esteem Character to a Self assured, cheeky and hopeful Person very very well. I'll for sure will watch any upcoming Projects of Est.
Now for the other Actors, I'm gonna be brutally honest. Except for the Main Adversary portrayed by Namfon, they didn't really leave that much of an impression. They were background noise mostly and the occasional comic relief. Namfon however did go the extra Mile. Her Pemika was an A-Grade A**hole! :) Without being over the top or being extremely dramatic. Pemika was a quite & composed A**hole, that at some point even made you believe she was actually a nice Person. She was scary really lol.
Production, Direction , Cinematography and Writing:
This was certainly no low Budget Production, might be one of the reason for only 13 Episodes. Did we get extremely flashy Sets? No! Which for this Series was spot on. For me part of this Series was a look behind the Curtain so to speak and the Sets represented that very well. While other Series feel almost "claustrophobic" with lack of Set variations, this Series simply had no need for many Sets. So they made a good decision to keep it confined and only go Big & Flashy for Key Scenes in the Series.
I applaud Mui and Job for the directing and the cinematography. I didn't really get to see much of the directing in the BTS, sadly. However, going by how smooth most of the Flow of the Series and most Scenes felt, Mui must have done an excellent job in directing. There really were only a miniscule few Scenes that felt a bit awkward and I forgot them all! So the directing did a proper and very good job.
This Series had beautiful Visuals and I don't mean just the Actors. I especially loved the use of Lighting in those Scenes were the mood was to be soft and intimate. Job made such, well, a good job. Especially one Scene got Stuck in my Memory, with their Shirts outside getting closer while they also physically did. Such a great Shot and smart Idea.
The writing for this Series was good albeit not perfect. I can't remember any cringe Dialogs at all. Where there Scenes which made me cringe? Sure but those Scenes were meant to made one cringe in a good way, which is a strange thing to say really. And Jun's U-Turn Line will forever be Stuck in my Brain, so good job there Writers! However as mentioned before, I really whished the Writers would've been a bit braver with certain Topics. That could've elevated it from a solid Drama, to an outstanding one.
Now for my Second big Complaint, which kept this Series from being outstanding: The at least two more Episodes it needed. The flow of this Series was amazing up until Ep. 8ish. That is when it began to rush because there were only 5 Episodes left. And sadly that also meant that some Storylines didn't get the proper amount of time, those would've needed to really make an impact. One was Per's Story which felt far to unfinished and the other was Nano's (Justice for Lego!). We got to know Jun and obviously Thames Story really well. Dylan and especially Pepper and Nano fell to the wayside!
While Jun's "Solo" Episode really focused on his Character and gave us some great Scenes, the other three Members sadly didn't get the same attention. We might have gotten one for Dylan which did Focus quite a lot on him but still less than Jun. While Pepper's Storyline should've had way more impact, the Focus was sadly more on Thame & Po there than on Pepper. And the Character that got the least attention was Nano. His "Solo" Episode, which should've given us an introduction and backstory, was mainly Focused on Jun's antic in making Thame jealous. Would they have added two or even three more Episodes, those other Characters would've gotten more time to shine and add to the overall Story.
However, the Ending was beautiful and satisfying. Its not an outstanding Series but its a good one and I do recommend it, even with some of its Flaws. I certainly enjoyed it and I'm sad it has ended.
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