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Hidden Agenda thai drama review
Completed
Hidden Agenda
6 people found this review helpful
by Rezkia
Sep 24, 2023
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 5.5
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 5.0
Music 10.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

A disappointing show

Basically almost everything is subpar in this series, if not downright bad. The cinematography is standard, neither good nor bad, and so is the editing. Some sound effect/music choices during the episodes are confusing but I love the ost and all the songs produced for this show - Joong and Dunk are both really enjoyable singers.

Writing-wise, the premise is pretty simple -  a boy requests a friend's help to hit on his crush and ends up falling (requitedly) for his friend instead - but the writing fails at carrying it out properly. Starting from ep 5 onwards, the « plot » abounds with fillers, and there’s no sense of direction. The story does attempt to tackle complex themes such as family relationships in its last episodes, but their handling and resolution ends up oversimplified.

The secondary characters are either entirely functional (Pat, the other friend), or criminally underused (Pok, Jeng, Nita), which is mind-boggling considering all the time dedicated to fillers in this show, which could instead have been used to develop them and their storylines. Joke and Zo’s relationship, despite being the main focus of this series, still needs work by the end of the 12 episodes, and I could never fully engage with Joke and Zo as characters (in Joke’s case, because he’s too pushy and too entirely defined by his love for Zo - and in Zo’s case, because I didn’t understand what he was thinking half the time, which is both a writing and an acting issue).

I like Joong’s acting but I felt like he was at 50% his capacity half the time. Dunk's acting, while slightly improved since SIMM, still needs a lot of work.

Still, some moments managed to capture my heart in the few occurrences when good writing and acting came together to deliver beautiful scenes (most of ep 3 and 4 for Joke/Zo, ep 7 and 9 for Jeng/Pok). Joong and Dunk’s chemistry is also amazing and the kiss scenes were all brillant.
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