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This review may contain spoilers
Us feels like a warm hug.
I can write sonnets about Pam and Dokrak's love. It's pure tenderness, lots of empathy and effective communication. They listen to each other, talk through issues and figure out together what the next steps are. All this while sill giving each other enough space to grow individually. No unnecessary breakups with these ladies! The level of emotional intelligence these two young women have can put a lot of adults to shame. The chemistry may not be the most sizzling but all of their warm hugs and scenes of domestic bliss are worth more than that. Their bond is authentic and love is palpable.
The main theme of the show is family and I liked how they handled the issue. Not everyone is worth of redemption and you cannot fix every relationship. It's notable how they showed that growing up in toxic enviroment and experiencing emotional neglect can affect people in different way. Rak turned her disappointment and hurt into compassion and selflessness. Kawi's sense of guilt and helplessnes suffocated him. Orn would rather ignore everything and play pretend than step up and take an action. Sometimes blood ties mean nothing but you can find real family elsewhere. I think one of my favourite scenes in the show is when Kawi and his Mom visit Pam's home and they are amazed that "incomplete" family like hers can be so full of love and warmth, something that they never had. The found family aspect of this show was nicely done and it's kinda of a breaking point for GLs that used to be so hellbent on giving last minute redemption arcs to literally everyone.
I'm so glad that the love triangle thing turned out to be such a non-issue. Not gonna lie, the reason why I didn't start this drama earlier is because trailers did not sell it to me. Having watched other Chao Planoy adaptations, I expected another lowkey toxic nonsense with unnecessary men getting themselves involved in two women's business. Glad to be proven wrong. Whoever wrote the script did a brilliant job transforming the original plot into a healthy WLW romance and making Kawi a likeable (although traumatized) character.
Other side characters were likeable as well. I love Nene. With her sharp eyeliner, ridiculously high heels and fancy cocktail dresses. The juxtaposition between that and the actress' youthful look would look funny in any other setting but it actually works in favour of the character. Nene is all about trying to intimidate others, her mission to destroy life of the one who hurt her. Deep inside she's lonely, scared, miserable and completely out of touch with what she really needs. It's perfectly shown in the slipper scene - after her fancy revenge heels get destroyed, she would rather get hurt by walking barefoot than wear comfortable slippers. Oat literally had to put them on for her and show that it's ok to relax and be vulnerable. And in the final episode? She's ready for a date, wearing comfortable sneakers. Her whole character is pretty much a baby trying to act like a gangster and it had this disarming effect on me.
Where there is a room for improvement? Although the melodrama aspect of the evil father plotline was handled well and it was not as over the top as it could have been, I do think that Nene's revenge took way too much screentime for how underwhelming it was. Her plan didn't make much sense once it got revealed to her that she cannot destroy something that was already destroyed. I enjoyed her character lore and development, but the revenge thing went off the tracks in the later episodes.
Also, it pains me to say that, but I watched worse plots that got me more invested from the get go. Despite the fact that Us is objectively better in a lot of areas where other dramas struggle, it didn't hook me instantly. It took me good 5-6 episodes to understand its charm and there still were some wonky moments.
With that said, I'm satisfied with how it turned out, GMM already set the bar high with Pluto but now it's even higher. Good luck not disappointing me in the future lol!
I can write sonnets about Pam and Dokrak's love. It's pure tenderness, lots of empathy and effective communication. They listen to each other, talk through issues and figure out together what the next steps are. All this while sill giving each other enough space to grow individually. No unnecessary breakups with these ladies! The level of emotional intelligence these two young women have can put a lot of adults to shame. The chemistry may not be the most sizzling but all of their warm hugs and scenes of domestic bliss are worth more than that. Their bond is authentic and love is palpable.
The main theme of the show is family and I liked how they handled the issue. Not everyone is worth of redemption and you cannot fix every relationship. It's notable how they showed that growing up in toxic enviroment and experiencing emotional neglect can affect people in different way. Rak turned her disappointment and hurt into compassion and selflessness. Kawi's sense of guilt and helplessnes suffocated him. Orn would rather ignore everything and play pretend than step up and take an action. Sometimes blood ties mean nothing but you can find real family elsewhere. I think one of my favourite scenes in the show is when Kawi and his Mom visit Pam's home and they are amazed that "incomplete" family like hers can be so full of love and warmth, something that they never had. The found family aspect of this show was nicely done and it's kinda of a breaking point for GLs that used to be so hellbent on giving last minute redemption arcs to literally everyone.
I'm so glad that the love triangle thing turned out to be such a non-issue. Not gonna lie, the reason why I didn't start this drama earlier is because trailers did not sell it to me. Having watched other Chao Planoy adaptations, I expected another lowkey toxic nonsense with unnecessary men getting themselves involved in two women's business. Glad to be proven wrong. Whoever wrote the script did a brilliant job transforming the original plot into a healthy WLW romance and making Kawi a likeable (although traumatized) character.
Other side characters were likeable as well. I love Nene. With her sharp eyeliner, ridiculously high heels and fancy cocktail dresses. The juxtaposition between that and the actress' youthful look would look funny in any other setting but it actually works in favour of the character. Nene is all about trying to intimidate others, her mission to destroy life of the one who hurt her. Deep inside she's lonely, scared, miserable and completely out of touch with what she really needs. It's perfectly shown in the slipper scene - after her fancy revenge heels get destroyed, she would rather get hurt by walking barefoot than wear comfortable slippers. Oat literally had to put them on for her and show that it's ok to relax and be vulnerable. And in the final episode? She's ready for a date, wearing comfortable sneakers. Her whole character is pretty much a baby trying to act like a gangster and it had this disarming effect on me.
Where there is a room for improvement? Although the melodrama aspect of the evil father plotline was handled well and it was not as over the top as it could have been, I do think that Nene's revenge took way too much screentime for how underwhelming it was. Her plan didn't make much sense once it got revealed to her that she cannot destroy something that was already destroyed. I enjoyed her character lore and development, but the revenge thing went off the tracks in the later episodes.
Also, it pains me to say that, but I watched worse plots that got me more invested from the get go. Despite the fact that Us is objectively better in a lot of areas where other dramas struggle, it didn't hook me instantly. It took me good 5-6 episodes to understand its charm and there still were some wonky moments.
With that said, I'm satisfied with how it turned out, GMM already set the bar high with Pluto but now it's even higher. Good luck not disappointing me in the future lol!
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