Jen

SeaKeen have grown to be one of my favourite GMMTV fixed pairings, but this is apparently solely due to their amazing performance in "Hi By My Luck" and the fact I was willing to overlook a lot of the flaws of "My Boo!" and "Head 2 Head". I was initially really excited for "Weirdo-101", especially after the pilot trailer, but the show did not follow in its footsteps. It felt like I was promised one story and watching something completely different. The plot was probably the emptiest I've seen from GMMTV - the only real conflict that was somewhat engaging to watch were Niran's issues with his family. Everything else - the bullying, the ghost hunting (what the fuck was that), even Niran’s complicated relationship with judo and worries about the future - was so underdeveloped that I am genuinely starting to think this script was written by AI (if someone has read the novel, please tell me how true the series is to the original work).

The characters were offensively underdeveloped too. I cannot tell you any of the names or traits of the boys in Niran’s friend group. Cheewa and his friends were a walking stereotype (seriously, who makes fun of others for wearing glasses in the year of the lord 2026). I also had a difficulty believing they’re as much into astronomy as they claimed, considering the trivia they were bringing up was part of my school curriculum in fourth grade. Cheewa didn’t have much reason to be this devoted to Niran, especially considering how cold the latter was acting towards him until the very last fucking episode. The “they knew each other in their childhood” reveal that happened in episode 9 felt like a poor attempt at explaining his affections. Cheewa being there for Niran when he was upset with his parents was obviously meant to be a turning point for Niran’s own feelings, but Niran then never changed the way he acts around Cheewa. Until the last episode, he was dismissive of him, generous with his physical affection towards his friends but keeping a safe distance from his boyfriend (even denying him kisses!). Their relationship was always stated but never shown, which made it very unbelievable (they would hug the way I hug my siblings, hold hands while being 5 ft away from each other, not even pucker their lips when going in for a kiss. Zero intimacy, and maybe I am biased, but I don’t remember SeaKeen being this stiff in Head 2 Head).

Just save your time and skip this one. I hope their next series compensates for whatever this was, because I am sure SeaKeen could deliver! (I also think Sea’s acting has improved. Maybe because his role was bland and there wasn’t much space to go wrong, but I will still take it).