Both better and worse than I expected
Flash review - low thought, rapid fire notes, mostly for my own future reference
I was recommended this like many people, as the pioneer Thai GL. I set my expectations accordingly and I would say it was both much better but also worse than I expected.
# The good:
- The production quality was good, totally modern and on par with other dramas imo. I expected it to be more low budget, but that wasn't the case at all
- Freen is top notch in this. She knows how to work the camera and always looks like she is in her element. She has an incredibly wide range and gives significant depth to the smallest actions and thoughts of her character
- The friend group and similar types of characters are tons of fun. And often saying exactly what we're thinking and moving to impact the plot for the things that as an audience member, I want to yell at the main-type characters
# The bad:
- The top of this list has to be the writing. Lots of premises are paper thin or make no sense or characters make decisions that are just to feed the melodrama. At best stuff makes no sense, at worst its regularly infuriating
- A pattern with many of these shows, but possibly the worst in this one, is characters being portrayed being actively, viscerally bad. And then no worthwhile redemption, just flip and we are supposed to forgive. Really unpleasant stuff, which feels like the writers just doing stuff to get an emotional reaction, and then not bothering to treat it seriously
- Seriously, add a second bullet and just repeat that. Just disgusting stuff in what would otherwise be such a cozy drama. I'm avoiding spoilers, but more than one character got me so mad I almost stopped watching
- A lot of het romance tropes that I like this genre for not being attached to usually. But the control/communication stuff is all handled in ways that are pretty typical of hetero romance dramas. I guess we have to not hold it against this one, since it was pioneering these issues, so it probably needed to "stick to the expected" a bit more, than the later Thai GL dramas have had to.
- I don't want to say Becky was bad... but it really felt like a student actor or something. Like you could tell she was reciting lines, or "acting happy" by forcing smiles. It.. was awkward, especially for a main character. And especially next to Freen who seemed so good at not only acting natural, but expressing nuanced things
I was recommended this like many people, as the pioneer Thai GL. I set my expectations accordingly and I would say it was both much better but also worse than I expected.
# The good:
- The production quality was good, totally modern and on par with other dramas imo. I expected it to be more low budget, but that wasn't the case at all
- Freen is top notch in this. She knows how to work the camera and always looks like she is in her element. She has an incredibly wide range and gives significant depth to the smallest actions and thoughts of her character
- The friend group and similar types of characters are tons of fun. And often saying exactly what we're thinking and moving to impact the plot for the things that as an audience member, I want to yell at the main-type characters
# The bad:
- The top of this list has to be the writing. Lots of premises are paper thin or make no sense or characters make decisions that are just to feed the melodrama. At best stuff makes no sense, at worst its regularly infuriating
- A pattern with many of these shows, but possibly the worst in this one, is characters being portrayed being actively, viscerally bad. And then no worthwhile redemption, just flip and we are supposed to forgive. Really unpleasant stuff, which feels like the writers just doing stuff to get an emotional reaction, and then not bothering to treat it seriously
- Seriously, add a second bullet and just repeat that. Just disgusting stuff in what would otherwise be such a cozy drama. I'm avoiding spoilers, but more than one character got me so mad I almost stopped watching
- A lot of het romance tropes that I like this genre for not being attached to usually. But the control/communication stuff is all handled in ways that are pretty typical of hetero romance dramas. I guess we have to not hold it against this one, since it was pioneering these issues, so it probably needed to "stick to the expected" a bit more, than the later Thai GL dramas have had to.
- I don't want to say Becky was bad... but it really felt like a student actor or something. Like you could tell she was reciting lines, or "acting happy" by forcing smiles. It.. was awkward, especially for a main character. And especially next to Freen who seemed so good at not only acting natural, but expressing nuanced things
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