This review may contain spoilers
this series is in dire need of a doctor…
(…which is ironic since the author of the novel(s) is a doctor)
This review is mostly to vent my disappointment. The badly handled sensitive topics will be shortly talked about.
The writing is just plain bad. The actors did their best. At least one of the writers must be in their Wattpad phase. In case you don‘t really know what that means: It means that the writer writes without thought, just vomits their fantasies onto the page, re-uses the oldest and most successful tropes (which makes the story kinda unoriginal) and is not aware of what good writing is yet because usually your brain hasn‘t fully developed yet at the time the phase happens. Wattpad is a good place to make all these mistakes, get feedback and improve your writing. (lmk if this explanation lacks something). When you are in your Wattpad phase you think it’s soo edgy to write that your main character was raped by their love interest because they’re interested in the main character and as screenwriter it’s probably even edgier to show the audience a „memory“ of it happening to make us truly believe it happened. Just to turn around and tell us it was a misunderstanding and didn‘t happen? What a violation and manipulation. What a betrayal of the characters, the viewers and morality. Who approved of this? (I fully understand the disgust and anger in user eliot_rulez‘s review.)
Furthermore a Wattpad phase writer would bend the characters against their characteristics in favour of their wanted outcome. So, the actions and reactions of the characters seem stupid, exaggarated, out of the blue, wrong etc. I felt that a bunch of times during the series… like the emotions and reactions sometimes were dialed to the max so tropes and situations that normally take up several episodes in other BLs, got fired through within one or two episodes. On one side it felt like they did that so they could get to the NC scenes and on the other because they probably didn‘t get the budget (no surprise why) to have more screentime to tell the story.
What else is there to say?
- generally the chemistry between each couple was okay. The actor pairing worked.
- the acting ranged from „first time on stage“ to ok/good.
- a new rival just appears, does their damage and is gone again. (how in the world did Per survive getting stabbed three times in the abdominal region, lying and bleeding on the ground for at least 10 mins and then standing up, talking, being conscious through all this to then go to the hospital to have serious surgery? I‘m no doctor but what?!)
- as soon as the two main couples get together the writers use the jealousy trope several times which is exhausting to watch. These characters are not allowed to establish any trust in each other. Usually such things only happen when the series is long and they run out of other possible plot or it‘s a fundamental characteristic of a character. But they managed to do this when there‘s only 10 episodes and none of the characters showed enough jealousy throughout the series to warrant this. Damn.
The one good thing about this series (imo): The third ‚couple‘ Tum and Klah.
Since the other two couples were thrown into a whirlwind of tropes and drama and did a speedrun through their relationship stages this couple went at a pace that felt the most realistic. Their whole set up was the most interesting: two best friends, one in love with the other, but the other is in a relationship with someone that doesn‘t love them and uses them for their own (non-sexual) benefits. I was mostly drawn to their story. But in the end I couldn‘t tell you whether they got together or not. And for them to have a more prominent role in the series they‘d need better writers.
Needless to say this was a disappointment. The first trailer looked exciting. And then we get this. Stabbed three times, yet still walking and talking.
I am kinda sad to say this but so far I have never encountered Lee Long Shi in a well written series. Unfortunately here‘s the next one.
This review is mostly to vent my disappointment. The badly handled sensitive topics will be shortly talked about.
The writing is just plain bad. The actors did their best. At least one of the writers must be in their Wattpad phase. In case you don‘t really know what that means: It means that the writer writes without thought, just vomits their fantasies onto the page, re-uses the oldest and most successful tropes (which makes the story kinda unoriginal) and is not aware of what good writing is yet because usually your brain hasn‘t fully developed yet at the time the phase happens. Wattpad is a good place to make all these mistakes, get feedback and improve your writing. (lmk if this explanation lacks something). When you are in your Wattpad phase you think it’s soo edgy to write that your main character was raped by their love interest because they’re interested in the main character and as screenwriter it’s probably even edgier to show the audience a „memory“ of it happening to make us truly believe it happened. Just to turn around and tell us it was a misunderstanding and didn‘t happen? What a violation and manipulation. What a betrayal of the characters, the viewers and morality. Who approved of this? (I fully understand the disgust and anger in user eliot_rulez‘s review.)
Furthermore a Wattpad phase writer would bend the characters against their characteristics in favour of their wanted outcome. So, the actions and reactions of the characters seem stupid, exaggarated, out of the blue, wrong etc. I felt that a bunch of times during the series… like the emotions and reactions sometimes were dialed to the max so tropes and situations that normally take up several episodes in other BLs, got fired through within one or two episodes. On one side it felt like they did that so they could get to the NC scenes and on the other because they probably didn‘t get the budget (no surprise why) to have more screentime to tell the story.
What else is there to say?
- generally the chemistry between each couple was okay. The actor pairing worked.
- the acting ranged from „first time on stage“ to ok/good.
- a new rival just appears, does their damage and is gone again. (how in the world did Per survive getting stabbed three times in the abdominal region, lying and bleeding on the ground for at least 10 mins and then standing up, talking, being conscious through all this to then go to the hospital to have serious surgery? I‘m no doctor but what?!)
- as soon as the two main couples get together the writers use the jealousy trope several times which is exhausting to watch. These characters are not allowed to establish any trust in each other. Usually such things only happen when the series is long and they run out of other possible plot or it‘s a fundamental characteristic of a character. But they managed to do this when there‘s only 10 episodes and none of the characters showed enough jealousy throughout the series to warrant this. Damn.
The one good thing about this series (imo): The third ‚couple‘ Tum and Klah.
Since the other two couples were thrown into a whirlwind of tropes and drama and did a speedrun through their relationship stages this couple went at a pace that felt the most realistic. Their whole set up was the most interesting: two best friends, one in love with the other, but the other is in a relationship with someone that doesn‘t love them and uses them for their own (non-sexual) benefits. I was mostly drawn to their story. But in the end I couldn‘t tell you whether they got together or not. And for them to have a more prominent role in the series they‘d need better writers.
Needless to say this was a disappointment. The first trailer looked exciting. And then we get this. Stabbed three times, yet still walking and talking.
I am kinda sad to say this but so far I have never encountered Lee Long Shi in a well written series. Unfortunately here‘s the next one.
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