This review may contain spoilers
loved it
I loved this drama.The story was super good, and (for me) the exact right amount of fluff and sadness. When he ran I almost cried myself. I just find it kind of sad that they left a lot of things unsaid, like they thought we understood what the characters were thinking. We haven't seen their story before this part, so that was quite a bummer. Never found out what they meant with certain parts either.🥲
The acting was also pretty good. Usually when I start a Thai drama the acting starts off a but shaky and gets better with time. But with this drama it started out strong and stayed strong, which was a pleasant surprise. Ofcourse there were some spots where you could hear the characters didn't believe the words they said themselves, but come on, we're all human here. These few tiny sentences don't take back how they started strong and stayed strong.
I also liked the music very much. The music they chose for every scene fit well and when they went to another scene they also changed it to fit that next scene.
The rewatch value is also very high, because I would definitely watch this one again.
Considering all of these I give the overall drama a rating of an 8.
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Started off ok. Went downhill at episode 8
It was decent enough at the beginning even with the long shots of cooking. Then episode 8 came and suddenly it went hot mess. Noncon kissing after he literally gave you a strong rejection. I don't blame him for punching him. Then the trope of running through the rain. I wasn't even surprised that he fell, could see it coming a mile away. I was actually laughing my butt off the whole time when he started the slow motion fall and crying while lying in the middle of the road. He's lucky he didn't get run over. Too many flashbacks to previous episode scenes. Fast forward all of them, plus eve and that manager and her ex flashbacks. Just waste of time episode filler.Was this review helpful to you?
NOT AS BAD AS MOST REVIEWS SAYS
Trust me, don't blindly follow the reviews here. Here most of the reviews says it was damn slow, had no proper story, was all over the place, etc., But, my experience was different. Ofcourse, the negative comments did influence me too, so I watched the drama mostly in 1.5x speed and skipped a lot of scenes without dialogues. But, it ain't boring. The 2 MLs are absolutely handsome. And the foods were just soooo appealing. It had me craving. The plot was a a normal storyline. Nothing really stands out. The ost were fine. Romance and chemistry was kinda lacking. Cinematography was good. Shooting locations were also good. Overall- it wasn't bad or boring but yeah the story was quiet ordinary and simple, not much fun, romance or anything that stands out. So, it's not worthy of re-watch.Was this review helpful to you?
What I didn't like: the length, some scenes dragged on like snot, I'm sure the creators wanted it that way, but this time it didn't affect me as much as the screwed up and excellently rated Korean series Light On Me, if the footage was shortened by 60-70 %, nothing would happen at all. There were also some inconsistencies in the story with the older characters, incoherence, and I absolutely did not like the strange, jerky twists and turns and behavior of the main character Aek, especially towards Aue, whose actions continued to lose any dignity in me, and the final shots of the two were for me so fake in the last episode.
What I liked: absolutely fantastic culinary shots of Thai cuisine (10 for processing, 6 for length = 8 in total). Very solid acting, especially Aue and some others (not all, e.g. clumsy acting by Vich with a baby face) other characters (8), music, when I took only one point out of ten (9).
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Unfortunately it's just not enough
First of all, I want to say that I started watching with really good feelings about this series. There's many things to like about it and the first half of the episodes made me wonder why did Bite Me get such a low score here on MDL. In case you're looking for good reasons to watch this series, here's a list:- The chemistry between the two main characters is actually very good. I already knew Mark from other series and I was expecting him to do a good job in terms of acting, but Zung really surprised me. Their gaze alone communicates a lot in terms of thoughts and feelings and made me look forward to every scene of theirs.
- This series is about chefs and cooking, and believe it or not, there IS a lot of cooking and food! Both the making and the final result of each recipe are shown in great detail and the quality of the camera work made it very satisfying to watch. I found myself drooling or feeling hungry multiple times as I watched. I recommend watching this with either a snack or a full stomach!
- This might sound like a low standard, but still: the music was used perfectly. There were no moments when I thought that the soundtrack didn't fit the moment, and even the silence was used in a clever way. Last but not least, there are no annoying sound effects here: if you're tired of Thai series where characters aren't able to blink without some goofy sound effect playing, then this will feel like a true breath of fresh air.
The true flaw of this series in my opinion is not even the pacing: I really enjoyed the series during the first half, and the slow pacing actually made me enjoy the touching moments and the cooking even more. I don't believe that the romance between Aek and Aue was supposed to bloom any faster either.
What actually got on my nerves and ended up ruining the series for me was the build-up of the dramatic/angsty elements of the plot. None of the threats and obstacles that the protagonists faced felt like huge problems at all, yet they were treated as such, making it hard for me to keep watching without feeling frustrated about the characters' decisions during the last few episodes. Even the resolution of these problems didn't get a proper build-up, making the ending of the series feel rushed and incredibly unsatisfying.
I don't want to spoil anything, but all I can say here is that the good of this show is indeed excellent, while the bad, while not as awful as it could get, is too annoying for me to want to rewatch this ever again in the future. In conclusion, all I can suggest is to watch the series for yourself and make your own opinion about it, because my feelings about it are too mixed to decide whether or not I should recommend it.
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"If you were the taste, I would be my ingredient."
If you like really really slow paced drama with lot of eye fuc..ng, awesome cinematography and quality of acting and presentation, than watch it, it is different aproach on BL drama. For sure not everyone's cup of tea, but for me yes.Novel's title "Grab a bite" would be better title for sure than Bite Me. Bite Me doesn't represent the show, because it is too quite, soft and relaxed, concentrating on the slow flow of emotions, life as a cook and the taste for food, finding yourself and your emotions. I think love as relationship was not the main point of this drama but more the hidden approach to find where you belong, find your dreams, to find where you feel home, what makes you feel the love, also riding on the soulmate wave. I super enjoyed the slow pace, It is one of my favourite comfort dramas now, I feel good when I think of it, relaxed and somehow in peace with me.
I really loved all the main characters(Mark, now I am your fan)...some side character (the supposed villains) didn't really need them, but all the other characters were wonderful. Aek's mum, the actress did awesome job, was portrait so down to earth and lovely, she really fit as Aek's mum, their soft warm character...
Last episode was the weakest episode, many fillers and some not really explained parts, which were there out of context, needed more space to understand them better.
The special episode really gives me more input on the series, DND's first Y series, also for the director. How he wanted to approach it, the direction was intended, also Zung(Aoe) didn't want to participate in Y series, but after talking about how different this Y series should be, finding the same direction, he joined the project. They really put lot of thoughts into the drama, all locations were connected to the characters. The food they all cooked and study how to cook. Food director was Wiphob's actor, is he cook? He talked a lot about the food shots. Director talking about love was also beautiful "Any form can be as beautiful as others, in its own way. "
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If you're looking for a more food-immersive series then you won't regret this!!
If you're looking for a more food-immersive series then you won't regret this!!Yet this series has been on my on-hold series since last year on my 1st MyDramaList account, It is a slow-burning series that can make me hungry most of the time because of the amount of food that they shot 55555+ finally giving it a 2nd chance to finally finish the series since I started to create this 2nd MDL account & to give reviews to drama's I've watched. So if you're not a fan of the slow-burn series better skip this T_T The episodes are so slow that it made me bored. I feel like the scenes are pacing like a turtle just to cover the 45-48minutes per episode time. Even their romance is super slow pace that I thought it was more of a cooking show than a BL series //cries// There are also a lot of add-on scenes that I think weren't really necessary in the series esp. the school scenes, but that's just my opinion 555+, just to make the episodes longer. The cooking scenes were like they are shooting a cooking show, too focused on the food that I had lost focus on the MC T_T
some characters/actors acting are cringe for me on some scenes tho. ðŸ˜
ZungMark pairing also has chemistry, it's cute to see them in one frame together~
I never doubted Mark on his acting skills too, boy really can deliver every role he's been given. His eyes show emotions~~
also can I appreciate Chef Aue's tattoo when he's wearing sleveless at home? he didn't look like the cute Chef Aue but a cool seme hahaha
I love Aek's mom too!! such a sweet, understanding and loving mom!!~~
Liked how the scenes are shot so well, the cinematography is superb especially when they're in the kitchen, and how they film the food, It is so mouthwatering that it makes me wanna eat even though I just ate something.
Each frame is a masterpiece even when they're walking is such an eye candy ~~
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Ummm... what?
The actors do well at giving emotion to some fairly lackluster script. The soundtrack was actually pretty good. Unfortunately, that's pretty much the end of the good parts of this series.The major faults lie in three main things:
First, from the very first episode there was a lot of staring at each other and pausing for unnecessary amounts of time between sentences. I have no idea what they hoped to accomplish with this, but it added to my annoyance and not much else. Who talks like that? No one. It was awkward and forced.
Second, the basic plot of the story is that the chef decides to hire an untrained boy to be a chef in his restaurant and compete in a cooking competition based on the fact that the boy is naturally talented and we discover he enjoys cooking. They spend time together, boom -- love story. Good enough, right? But the competition just started and suddenly nothing else is said about it. Like, the main plot just got dropped with no reasoning. It was left totally open with no conclusion and not even a climax to that part of the story. It was simply never mentioned again.
Third (this is a little bit of a spoiler so beware), there were some fairly confusing moments. Aue (the older chef) sort of confesses having feelings (if you count a candlelight dinner just the two of them and longing stares as confession) for Aek (the boy). Aek goes a little crazy, getting wildly upset over this subtle confession. He runs off crying and falls, hurting his arm. Enter a side character who suddenly seems to be poised to get between the two leads, but no, that also drops off unexpectedly without having any real relationship to the rest of the series. Aek talks to his mom, making sure it's okay with her if he is straight but has feelings for one guy. She says that's okay and he goes back to Aue as if nothing happened. Like, hey, I'm back and I'm opening my arms to hug you. Less subtle accepting of confession, but still, the whole thing was confusing. Did he have to have a mental breakdown and get seriously angry over the thought that a guy might like him? His reaction was out of proportion and made no sense.
Basically: it's kind of a boring story overall, but the food looked really delicious. No sexy scenes, so younger people can watch this without worry. It's too confusing and has dropped plot lines, as though they were planning to have more episodes but got told they were canceled so they decided to just end it as quickly as possible. Pretty much a letdown.
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Wasted potential due to bad directing
I just LOVE how much context the show give us for everything! Totally not replacing important scenes with completely pointless and random ones.Could probably edit half the scenes out and still get the same story. Also, why are the actors acting so stiff and speaking unnaturally slow? Were they told to do that in order to fill air time?
The story itself has a lot of potential, and the main actors do have great chemistry, too bad the directors did such a bad job in showing that.
I don't have much more to say, you should watch yourselves and form your own opinions, this is just my personal impression of the show.
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Some of my observations this far into the series
This series is definitely one of my favorite airing titles right now. However, that does not mean I don't see its flaws. Once I finished watching the third episode that aired last Sunday, I decided to compile a little list of praise and complaints I have so far.Let's start with the good parts. My praise for Bite Me:
- An amazing idea for a story. This series' plot is definitely what piqued my interest the first time I heard of it. The uniqueness of it in the far too engineer/uni focused bl industry is something I really appreciate. That, however, does not equal good. I have not yet seen enough to say if they will handle the potentially phenomenal storyline in the way that it deserves. So I won't comment on it any further.
- The chemistry between the two male leads. This is kind of on the fence, because I'm not certain I'm correct in the matter, but I'm frankly really enjoying the way these two interact with one another. The awkwardness they portray whilst trying to get to know each other is quite lovely. Really enjoying it. Hopefully, that awkwardness is something the actors are portraying on purpose. Will go deeper into this later when we get to my critique.
- The guy playing Aue, Zung, is not an actor I've seen before. However, he's actually quite good. His emotional(/not really crying scene but something of the sort) spanning between the last scene of ep 2 and the first scene of ep 3 was really good. I could straight up feel his frustration, even though I'm not certain exactly why he was frustrated, still really good acting.
Now, onto the not so good, but also necessary, complaints/critique I have so far.
- The awkwardness/ lack of chemistry between some actors. There are some actors/groups of actors that have little to no chemistry with one another or are simply not that good at acting, probably the lack of experience for most of them. Really not blaming them for it, but I hope they learn something from working on this show. There are a few instances where the actors don't seem to click with one another at all. Mainly Aek and his friends. I straight-up hated their dynamic from the second I saw them in the first episode. There's something about it that just doesn't sit right with me. Most likely it has something to do with the fact that they don't click too well as actors, thus they can't fake it for the camera. But who knows.
- The lack of direction when it comes to showing the actors what they should be doing on-set when they're not the focus. E.g. the scene in the first episode where Aek gets a phone call from someone. The actors around Mark (Aek), that are portraying his friends, all look like they're waiting for something. They straight-up LOOK like they're expecting Aek to get a phone call. That really takes away from the experience and immersion as a watcher. When the actors aren't directed to do something that would seem convincing for them, like talking to one another (or fake talking), they will look out extremely of place. They don't look like real people. There are a few more scenes like these, but most of them concern extras, so I won't go into that. I want to add another character that I kind of hate: Prem, the pastry chef, he's also kind of strange acting, really not my fave, don't know if it's the acting or his character - they're just awkward either way.
- The length of some scenes. There's nothing I hate more than having to see the same old angles for minutes at a time. I hate it. This is why I notice them so many times when watching this drama. From too long scenes of boring dialogue between two characters to annoying extra footage after a scene has ended, and the characters are no longer in view. They are everywhere, and I hate it. I hate speeding up shows, but some scenes... I really cannot make it through them on x1.0 speed.
- There are even some scenes that I find frankly unnecessary, they're either too long or just don't add anything to the story. Not hating on seemingly useless scenes in general, these just make me go "Why though?", and that's not something I usually notice about scenes that don't add value to the plot. Which is why I want to mention it.
- The silence. Kind of referring back to the last points. There is far too much silence between lines for some dialogues. I don't hate it as much when it's between Aek and Aue, but it's still kind of annoying. This is also connected to a lot of questionable staring. Valid, but like that much? No way in hell.
This list of complaints is quite a bit longer than I'd like it to be... I honestly don't want this to seem like me shitting on the show. I just genuinely want to like it, and some things mentioned above just hinder me from doing that to the fullest. So I'm a little sad is all. Hopefully, it gets better as the series progresses. I will not drop it just because of these flaws.
Had to put ratings for the review. Not too sure how I'm feeling about them, but I'll leave them like that for the time being.
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Mmmm
Bite me could be a great Thai BL as it steers away from the usual Thai BL troupes for example Engineering students/ university students or being gay just for you.What I am struggling with is the long as hell staring they do, it is actually uncomfortable as it happens constantly. I understand that the directors are trying to convey that they are attracted to each other but they go alittle overboard with it. I will give it time and hope they rectify this issue.
Also one more issue is they spend to much time on meaningless fillers, like why do we need to see Aek riding his bike to his destination for 2-3 minutes i just don't understand.
My ratings will go up as episodes are released.
UPDATE My rating did not go up, it dropped. This was all over the place. Disappointing.
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