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A guide to successfully gaslighting your partner
Its 2025 and still we're being served a BL that got some much toxic waste that I honestly was expecting Greenpeace to show up for a protest at some point. This BL is a throwback to the don'ts of 2018/2015 BL's, which included such great highlights like: an obligatory GL couple that got less screen time than some of the comic relief characters, consent not even being an option, a narcistic & toxic red flag Main Top which is being sold as bad boy with an redemption arc (spoiler there is no redemption, dude is just toxic), a Main Bottom with less common sense than a toothpick and no discernible character and cringe as far as the eye can see. The only thing that isn't a throwback to those dark times are the NC scenes which are definitely 2025 (and probably directed by someone from the porn industry).The acting is stiffer than the Main couples in-between-the-legs-appendices are most of the time and not all of the cast are first timers, some have enough experience that they should know how to act. So there's very little excuse for how bad the acting is, except that the script is just so bad that I really can't see any actor being able to delivery a good performance with it. Which especially shows compared to the NC scenes where the acting is actually good, even though the dialogs are still a real cringe fest.
The sets are boring and add nothing much to look at, which is ok if this production had a small budget. Which I hope was the case. The music is nothing special and really didn't leave an impression. The editing didn't really suck, so thats a plus I guess. The cinematography was pretty decent in the NC scenes and just meh the rest of the time with some annoying and unnecessary flares and lighting effects.
Now back to script: Oh dear, I should've checked out what the writer's other works are, then I probably wouldn't have been so surprised by the waste that I got served. The dialogs are just simply bad cringe, not the good kind of cringe one can actually enjoy as a guilty pleasure. No no. Grown up characters spewing constantly some pouty nonsense, lines straight out of porn or the worst of the 2000er b-movie romances imaginable. Add to that one dimensional characters, whose sole traits are either having no brains, no common sense, every red flag imaginable or just good looks.
Is there at least a story? Sure and I think its about how the toxic main top constantly gaslights his no brains younger bottom into mainly non consensual topping and other such activities, bullies said bottom to follow his every whim, while said bottom harbours delusions of changing the top and at the end sorta just gives up (good sex apparently excuses all). Add to that a plethora of people actively enabling the top's toxic ways or excusing them in some bullshit way. And then there is those two side couples which got a more or less a healthy relationship, not quite sure about the GL but since those two are just there for the heck of it eh. The second couple could've been a ray of light in this waste land of a story but no. It started pretty good and then for some reason, they just had to add nonsensical drama to that couples story, ruining that too.
So basically if one enjoys watching a series which celebrates every toxic trait and red flag in a partner with some very imaginative NC scenarios straight out of the porn industry, this is it for you. It really wasn't my cup of tea and the trailer gaslight me into believing this would be good, which I guess fits the story.
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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.
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