1
10
1
chiha
I rarely do this, but I encourage you to not take the stalking at face value
Having finished Secret Crush on You (here on abbreviated as scoy) weeks ago, I decided to wait and let my thoughts stabilise but I rated it a 8.5 purely for its entertainment value (actually a 10/10).
Scoy is an incredibly well-made series in the sense that it has a consistent story (chaotic but consistent in its execution of chaos), well-paced, well-written dialogues suitable for the different kinds of interactions, high production quality (no, I'm not counting Nuea’s abs though they are very valuable assets. no I am not objectifying men, pretty sure he thinks the same) and awesome acting, some director obviously worked on them a lot.
I'm not one to care about MDL Ratings but having been on here for two years now, I have a pretty good idea for what becomes popular around here. And as I watched, I wondered why-how-why this series doesn't have a rating above an 8. 7.4 is a very good rating imo but on MDL such an epic comedy series should easily get above an 8.0. I didn't have to wonder much because there it was, Toh in those nerdy glasses and gloves rummaging throough garbage with whatever that device was to get a pair of cans Nuea had thrown into them.
Wait, so he's like, 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨? We no likey. (And rummaging through garbage is gross anyway). Those were a majority of the comments on yt episode 1, and I admit it weirded me out too. I developed this @-the-screen dialogue begging, wishing, hoping that Toh would stop tf he was about to do because I knew it was going to be embarassing (a habit which did not stop till the very end of the series). I have no hesitation to drop cringe, no idea why I kept watching but I'm glad I did.
I'm accustomed to using phrases like "at times absurd" and "often hilarious, often...” while reviewing shows, but nothing less than “𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 outlandishly, absurd and mostly really silly” will suffice for scoy.
Toh, Daisy, Jao and Som are an odd motley, uni outcasts united in their mutual loneliness. Together they create nothing short of chaos. Their friendship alone is worth watching this series. Nosy parkers through and through, they catalysed each others romances, supported through heartbreak and unanimoulsly held up a code called the "secret crush code". There are many moments that were exemplary of their friendship: fixing Toh's mess, supporting Jao through internet hatred, being there for Daisy's trans identity crisis.
There is an ongoing debate that “bl” isn't truly “lgbt”. Regardless of which side you're on, we all acknowledge that there are very few shows about diverse sexual and gender identities. For a series so seemingly comedic and "immature", scoy has surprising lgbt awareness portrayed with such sensitivity that it made me wonder if actual lgbt individuals were involved in its making (for example Nuchy, the wonderful director of Not Me is a transwoman). I do not mean it's all doom and gloom with homophobia, quite the contrary, yet you'll feel the overall positive representation.
Now, let's come to the main part of this story. Nuea's abs.
Obviously.
No really, Nuea’s abs and how he was so obsessed with displaying those wonderful contours to Toh. Nuea is the school's best basketball player, a good student, a kind person yadda yadda the whole jig. We don't know much about him except he's hot and Toh has the hots for him. We don't even know if he is aware of Toh’s existence. So when Nuea invites him to shoot photos at his sister's birthday and they have these really close interactions, it sets the gears going. Does this chiseled mass of goodness 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 the nerdy guy who 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘴 him?
Can a nerdy stalker even be worthy of such love? And here is my favorite part of scoy, it's not pitching the concept many shows go for "love is deeper than appearance" etc. no, it's asking you a more fundamental question. Why should the crush of a handsome boy be more valued in comparison to the nerdy one?
What is a crush anyway? Sudden unreasonable attractions to people. And sometimes they fall in love right? But why is that crush so easy to understand when its the school's popular guy than, say, a quiet chubby guy, a weird bubbly girl, a effeminate outcast or a shy boy in large glasses?
Via an internet bullying drama blown out of proportion, mean girls who would make the Plastics proud, drama questioning self-worth and acceptance and of course the stalking, scoy examines secret crushes and how we raise them on a pedestal beyond our reach. There are good points about all of us (and very few people are so bad as to be truly unworthy of an love, and I mean criminal offenders really). I appreciate what the drama tried to do here, and it did so without being obtrusive.
Nuea and Toh were the stars of the show for me. They had their hot and sweet moments, sometimes emotional. Somebody involved in the production micromanaged Toh and Nuea’s intimacy to perfection that they felt like a real couple who were into each other. Billy (Nuea) and Seng (Toh) have an intensity to them that worked wonders. Certain lingering touches, looking into each other's eyes, real communication, treating even the friends of your crush really well ;) —details that a lot of shows miss.
The actors were amazing, I've given this a 10/10 on that front. Nothing felt lacking in terms of acting. The emotional scenes had weight, the comedy was hilarious and felt natural for the characters.
Sky and Jao were quite popular, being less "problematic" (read more on this in note 2). Daisy and Toh were robbed but it seems they didn't have much of a story in the novel and the show did a good job of the few they did. Som is our allo het relresentative. There are lesbians but they are not really there except one really pretty freenbeck shot at the end (you have to watch Gap).
Lastly, huge love for the translators. They explained everything, the film references, the Thai jokes we tend to miss out on, Daisy's switching pronouns. Everybody agrees that this had the best, most involved subbing team. 9/10
Notes irrelevant to review:
Note 1. The stalking, like everything else in the drama, is exaggerated. But if it makes you feel better, all photos Toh collected were from public events. Public university events. Yes, he stuck them on his wall, but those are photos available publicly to everyone. The items collection was real but really? If keeping a crab in a vacuumed pouch isn't a joke then idk what is.
Note 2. I found Sky’s behaviour to be pretty problematic actually. A no is a no. It is weird how he kept pursuing Jao who said no so vehemently. Consent is an issue here which it isn't in Nuea and Toh's relationship.
Scoy is an incredibly well-made series in the sense that it has a consistent story (chaotic but consistent in its execution of chaos), well-paced, well-written dialogues suitable for the different kinds of interactions, high production quality (no, I'm not counting Nuea’s abs though they are very valuable assets. no I am not objectifying men, pretty sure he thinks the same) and awesome acting, some director obviously worked on them a lot.
I'm not one to care about MDL Ratings but having been on here for two years now, I have a pretty good idea for what becomes popular around here. And as I watched, I wondered why-how-why this series doesn't have a rating above an 8. 7.4 is a very good rating imo but on MDL such an epic comedy series should easily get above an 8.0. I didn't have to wonder much because there it was, Toh in those nerdy glasses and gloves rummaging throough garbage with whatever that device was to get a pair of cans Nuea had thrown into them.
Wait, so he's like, 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨? We no likey. (And rummaging through garbage is gross anyway). Those were a majority of the comments on yt episode 1, and I admit it weirded me out too. I developed this @-the-screen dialogue begging, wishing, hoping that Toh would stop tf he was about to do because I knew it was going to be embarassing (a habit which did not stop till the very end of the series). I have no hesitation to drop cringe, no idea why I kept watching but I'm glad I did.
I'm accustomed to using phrases like "at times absurd" and "often hilarious, often...” while reviewing shows, but nothing less than “𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 outlandishly, absurd and mostly really silly” will suffice for scoy.
Toh, Daisy, Jao and Som are an odd motley, uni outcasts united in their mutual loneliness. Together they create nothing short of chaos. Their friendship alone is worth watching this series. Nosy parkers through and through, they catalysed each others romances, supported through heartbreak and unanimoulsly held up a code called the "secret crush code". There are many moments that were exemplary of their friendship: fixing Toh's mess, supporting Jao through internet hatred, being there for Daisy's trans identity crisis.
There is an ongoing debate that “bl” isn't truly “lgbt”. Regardless of which side you're on, we all acknowledge that there are very few shows about diverse sexual and gender identities. For a series so seemingly comedic and "immature", scoy has surprising lgbt awareness portrayed with such sensitivity that it made me wonder if actual lgbt individuals were involved in its making (for example Nuchy, the wonderful director of Not Me is a transwoman). I do not mean it's all doom and gloom with homophobia, quite the contrary, yet you'll feel the overall positive representation.
Now, let's come to the main part of this story. Nuea's abs.
Obviously.
No really, Nuea’s abs and how he was so obsessed with displaying those wonderful contours to Toh. Nuea is the school's best basketball player, a good student, a kind person yadda yadda the whole jig. We don't know much about him except he's hot and Toh has the hots for him. We don't even know if he is aware of Toh’s existence. So when Nuea invites him to shoot photos at his sister's birthday and they have these really close interactions, it sets the gears going. Does this chiseled mass of goodness 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 the nerdy guy who 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘴 him?
Can a nerdy stalker even be worthy of such love? And here is my favorite part of scoy, it's not pitching the concept many shows go for "love is deeper than appearance" etc. no, it's asking you a more fundamental question. Why should the crush of a handsome boy be more valued in comparison to the nerdy one?
What is a crush anyway? Sudden unreasonable attractions to people. And sometimes they fall in love right? But why is that crush so easy to understand when its the school's popular guy than, say, a quiet chubby guy, a weird bubbly girl, a effeminate outcast or a shy boy in large glasses?
Via an internet bullying drama blown out of proportion, mean girls who would make the Plastics proud, drama questioning self-worth and acceptance and of course the stalking, scoy examines secret crushes and how we raise them on a pedestal beyond our reach. There are good points about all of us (and very few people are so bad as to be truly unworthy of an love, and I mean criminal offenders really). I appreciate what the drama tried to do here, and it did so without being obtrusive.
Nuea and Toh were the stars of the show for me. They had their hot and sweet moments, sometimes emotional. Somebody involved in the production micromanaged Toh and Nuea’s intimacy to perfection that they felt like a real couple who were into each other. Billy (Nuea) and Seng (Toh) have an intensity to them that worked wonders. Certain lingering touches, looking into each other's eyes, real communication, treating even the friends of your crush really well ;) —details that a lot of shows miss.
The actors were amazing, I've given this a 10/10 on that front. Nothing felt lacking in terms of acting. The emotional scenes had weight, the comedy was hilarious and felt natural for the characters.
Sky and Jao were quite popular, being less "problematic" (read more on this in note 2). Daisy and Toh were robbed but it seems they didn't have much of a story in the novel and the show did a good job of the few they did. Som is our allo het relresentative. There are lesbians but they are not really there except one really pretty freenbeck shot at the end (you have to watch Gap).
Lastly, huge love for the translators. They explained everything, the film references, the Thai jokes we tend to miss out on, Daisy's switching pronouns. Everybody agrees that this had the best, most involved subbing team. 9/10
Notes irrelevant to review:
Note 1. The stalking, like everything else in the drama, is exaggerated. But if it makes you feel better, all photos Toh collected were from public events. Public university events. Yes, he stuck them on his wall, but those are photos available publicly to everyone. The items collection was real but really? If keeping a crab in a vacuumed pouch isn't a joke then idk what is.
Note 2. I found Sky’s behaviour to be pretty problematic actually. A no is a no. It is weird how he kept pursuing Jao who said no so vehemently. Consent is an issue here which it isn't in Nuea and Toh's relationship.
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