Fun to watch
I think this show deserves a better review. I actually really enjoyed watching it. Admittedly, a lot of the criticisms are true, the story is highly unrealistic, stretched thin, and uneven in many places. Some of the acting is not convincing, especially from some of the newer actors, though Claudia and Simon were both amazingly portrayed.In my opinion, what sets this series apart are primarily two things. First, they tried to create something fun, exciting and most of all entertaining. It's a comedy-drama that succeeds in making the audience smile most of the time and occasionally cry. The characters and situations are exaggerated beyond expectations, but it isn't meant to be taken too seriously, it's more like a comic book brought to life. The second thing that makes this series special is the styling. Lot's of bold, saturated colors, fast camera changes, energetic music. It's almost like watching a music video. To underline the styling, one of the characters is a free-runner, emphasizing the energy of the production. Everyone looks like they just walked off a fashion magazine photo shoot. One memorable scene is when the wealthy Jennista walks down her spiral staircase wearing an all black dress with a white cat in one arm, probably inspired by Vogue from the 1930s or 40s.
In an interesting twist on the typical love story, here it's the men who are pure, innocent and devoted to their lovers while the women are fighting and generally making a fool of themselves. It's nice to see the stereotypes switched around.
If you're on the fence about whether or not to watch it, just watch the first 15-20 minutes or so. You will get a feel for the style of the show. It doesn't get any better - or worse - after that.
I would love to see the production team create a new season, though perhaps with new characters.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Refreshingly Realistic Love Triangles
This show was called "Innocence: Bangkok Love Stories" as played on Netflix in the U.S. It concerns multiple love triangles, anchored by three main male leads: Danny (Pond Ponlawit), JC (Kawin Manonukul) and Simon (Ten Tosatid). The most interesting triangle surrounds a BL story involving Simon and Keaton (Max Nattapol) and a wealthy female cougar (older woman who likes young men), Jennista (Nicole Theriault). Jennista is probably the most complex and interesting character. On one hand, she's presented almost like a stereotypical James Bond villain, always with a conspiratorial demeanor and seen frequently stroking a white cat alone in her sprawling mansion. Nevertheless, she becomes the hero of the piece, facilitating Simon & Keaton's dreams. Simon is our main BL hero whose mother (Rudklao Amratisha) is afflicted with Alzheimer's disease. Their scenes together are among the best in the show. Simon's main love interest is Keaton, who first met as children. There are many wonderful flashbacks to provide clues to their mysterious love-hate relationship. Honorable mention should be given to Naphon Phromsuwan who, as Dr. Krit, has a brief affair with Simon. Their scenes together are nicely rendered. All of the characters have very complicated lives and relationships. The dramas are driven by the mystery of which partner in their respective triangles will the lead guys choose. It's beautifully photographed, except the bar scenes tend to be too dark. There are several cliche LGBT supporting characters the are meant to provide comic relief, but undermine the realistic tone of the main stories. Overall, I enjoyed the show and can recommend it.Was this review helpful to you?
Meh--Don't Bother
STORYI was really excited for this because I love Ten and the series itself seemed pretty hyped (plus the constant push back of the international release date worked to drive the interest even further). I binged over the course of two days, finishing yesterday, but there was nothing special about it to leave a lasting impression. The biggest downfalls for me were (1) the sub-par writing and (2) the weak, basic, and severely under-developed plot lines. These two weaknesses I cannot stress enough.
There were several times throughout this lakorn where I found myself laughing due to cringeyness and uttering, "This is so stupid" (and not even in the cute, charming stupid sort of way--just flat out stupid). What makes this even more frustrating is that several characters (Claudia, Simon, Keaton, and, vis a vis his connection to Claudia, JC) had the potential for GREAT story lines, including backstory and growth! But time that could have been spent developing those was sacrificed for continuous plot repetition (seriously--each plot consisted of the same one or two ideas that were recycled from beginning to end), scenes that failed to move the story along, and a rather boring love triangle that was neither new nor groundbreaking (Eve, Danny, Lin--I'm looking at you here). And though the writers tried to throw in some more serious moments, they flatlined and got lost amidst the silliness and ridiculousness that was the rest of the drama. The dramedy genre didn't really work here.
There were some cute moments and times that made me smile, but all in all the script-writing felt very lazy and half-assed. It's a shame that these otherwise great actors were given such lousy material to work with.
Oh, and if you're interested solely for the BL, don't invest your time. There was next to none, the story line was basic and under-developed, and the series itself isn't strong enough for me to recommend watching anyway.
ACTING/CAST
The actors themselves all did really well in their roles. No stiffness, no awkwardness. I lowered my score though because the characters were all pretty bland and boring. Several of them felt stereotypical, stock-like, and two dimensional, and there were missed opportunities for meaningful character development. Nearly all of the "competing" love interests felt manufactured and were obviously inserted for no other purpose than to create drama. Though most of the main characters were likable enough, I didn't really connect with any of them, nor could I feel any chemistry between any of them (though I will say Ten, as always, does do a fantastic job at emoting this, and he didn't fail me here; there just wasn't a strong reciprocation). As a result, I didn't really care about them; I didn't share in their happiness or sadness. There were happy endings, but at that point I was beyond ready to move on to my next drama.
OVERALL (TL;DR)
There were cute moments, sure, but the writing and story lines were so weak and under-developed that I was left disappointed and wanting more. Safe to skip this one. Would not recommend.
Was this review helpful to you?
Great story & Great Visuals
Im not going into details of the story lines and the characters. As a non Thai who frequently visit Bangkok for leisure, I love how the shootings were done and places that I always visit. The visuals are beautiful yet raw.The beautiful casts do help in this drama with their looks but their talents also cannot be undermined. They carry their roles very well... Over the top sometimes but very entertaining indeed. Once again my favourite - Max shows his best ...
This series has potential to have sequel and I hope the production will give it a chance. I need to know how the couple will carry on with their relationship.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Mindless and fun; not to be viewed with a critical eye
Although I spent most of my time rolling my eyes or trying to understand how or why these characters react to every tiny mishap or character flaw so dramatically, I still managed to enjoy it overall. Maybe it was the performances; the cast definitely knew how to treat each scene appropriately and I genuinely think that everyone involved gave solid performances. Even the smaller, supporting cast members. The music was also enjoyable and appropriate, if not repetitive (which I'm noticing is common in Thai dramas).The issue, however, is that the multiple plotlines bordered on nonsensical. Nothing that the characters did ever made much sense to me. Sometimes, they'll say something in regard to their love interest and when the action follows the statement, it would cause drama. For example, the character Eve, who happened to be caught in a love triangle with Lin and Danny, told Lin that she didn't mind if she ended up with Danny. And in that SAME CONVERSATION, when Lin later revealed that she was still going to pursue Danny, Eve got upset. And events like this happens multiple times. The entire Eve/Danny/Lin triangle is actually just the two girls telling Danny that he should be with the other girl. Danny usually says that he wants to be with Eve, but Eve just simply rejects that idea every single time. The writing with that entire triangle felt improvised and incohesive.
Don't even get me started on some very, very questionable scenes between the two. In the 2nd episode, Eve wakes up, hungover, in Danny's bed with his clothes on. She's confused and doesn't remember the night before and expresses distress, worried that he may have taken advantage of her. Long story short: he didn't (although, him changing her clothes; even with the lights off is still pretty iffy). Later, she tells Claudia that she wishes he did do something to her. GIRL!!! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SAYING?!?!! Oh, and then there was also Danny acting as if he's about to r*pe her as a joke.
R*pe is actually used as a plot device a few times in this show. It's concerning and probably wouldn't fly on an American show in 2018.
The main storyline with Claudia and JC actually begins with an attempted r*pe, in which JC saves the day and then begins a whirlwind romance. Not AS nonsensical as Danny's love triangle but it could still use work. There were plenty elements to their storyline that got forgotten or dropped. Early on, one of JC's coworkers showed a romantic interest in him but then she disappeared out of thin air. I actually completely forgot of her existence until the last episode when she magical showed up again.
There was also the time JC fucked his ex-girlfriend, Jam, while he was with Claudia. Then Jam brought Claudia to JC's place while he wasn't there and they erased a mural drawing of Claudia on his wall. He blamed Jam and kicked her out of his apartment and Claudia never revealed that it was her doing. Nor did he reveal that he fucked Jam. And like, wtf is up with Claudia's wig??? It's TERRIBLE. Half the time it doesn't even look like it's properly put on. And then it has uneven bangs. Looks unbrushed for weeks. It's so distracting and I kept waiting for a good reason as to why she wore it. Surely the viewers weren't expected to believe that it was her real hair?
The gay/bi storyline was the most comprehensible of the bunch, however slowly developed it may have been. While everyone else was going through 8 makeups and breakups in a span of 2 episodes, Simon and Keaton were stagnant. Honestly, I feel sorry for anyone who watched this show strictly for the BL romance because it didn't give much to the audience. Personally, I was content with the development. I thought that, overall, the LGBT representation on the show was great. There were two main characters who were transsexual and they were treated as more than just comic relief. Toffee, in particular, who had very heartbreaking backstory. In regards to the bi love triangle, I was happy that Jennista wasn't written as an irredeemably evil woman standing between the gay lovers.
One of the biggest flaws that every single storyline shared was severe jealousy. These character get upset at even the slightest of interactions that their love interests have with someone else. It's so annoying and repetitive. No one ever apologizes for their toxic behavior or seem to learn from it, either. But, maybe that toxic ass behavior is what made the show so bingeable? Just mark it under "car-crash-that-you-can't-look-away-from".
Was this review helpful to you?
about the series
The series i love is all cast which they all doing good job i love it..also Series was good as well. i want to see more of it. Hope there season 2 coming see more of max and ten, Also, i want see more of other cast as well. see what next for all of them. Plus, the last ep was tul was show up.. i want to see more of it and see what he do next with her.the dislike of series was none.. it good.. but just one thing i want english sub was on all series episodes .. sometime it was skip english sub.. on youtube or other website.. till i found Netflix and i watch again and it glad it was have english sub on that netflix and i watch it many time i want. want make sure there have english sub ready when series ep was appear.
one more things if anyone know there will be more or new come up.. let me know keep me update.. but that rate was great...
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
Max who plays Keaton is and is a BL favorite is hot in this, but his only facial expression is "you just ran over my cat!" Not his best effort. And no chemistry. The parkour guy was adorable, but you can tell the actor was starting to phone it in in later episodes - he was probably tired of doing the same thing over and over. He was one of the few characters that seemed innocent, and managed to insert vulnerability and sweetness into his cockiness.
Anyway, a shallow and poorly-written series. One positive note - there are the ubiquitous offensively stereotypical trans characters that are there for "comic" relief, but there is a scene where two of them interrupt a gang rape and it's pretty awesome, so at least they subverted the stereotype a bit.
Anyway, if you came for BL, just skip to the end - you won't have missed anything.
Was this review helpful to you?
It was so well written.
Some of the characters were annoying AF, like Eve and Jen. Jen particularly got on my nerves. She's one of those women that knows a man is gay and still try to force him into being with her. She's the kind of woman that can't take no for an answer.
Let's talk about Keaton aka Nawin and Simon - what a storyline! The emotions and the chemistry were all on point. The anger, the pull and push of falling in love and being afraid to go there again. The tears, the hug, the way Simon looked at Keaton-- all of it had me.
What is is about Max that is so electric seeing him on the screen?
Mednoon played by Godji - this is the first time I'm seeing her, I think. But I am very impressed. Mednoon is the wingwoman we all need. She is the friend I hope everyone deserves.
This drama deserves better. It was well written, the graphics were beautiful, the acting stellar and the music was very well done. I have watched this repeatedly because I'm so afraid Netflix will take it down. I try watching it every chance i get. If you haven't seen it yet, definitely check it out. It's so worth it.
Was this review helpful to you?
Not worth it
Wow tis drama is not worth watching unless gif a fan of the ML (max),It felt like this drams was just over all over place, and the supporting roles were so annoying and frus3, especially eve!! She was so bad that I would literally just watching or skip when she appeared, even Claudia with her her self doubt and leading JC on.
The music was just as bad.
And then you Ms Jennista who is like a glorified hooker, takes what she needs znd throws out when she is done, how does one go from crying to meeting the pool boy workout in a matter of seconds?
This whole drama was really bad and annoying, the story line of a fat kid in love with his classmate,
An insecure girl who js jealous of a hostess, a boy who cant decide between the two
An old lady who pines or her late husband, but falls in love with a younger boy, who is supposedly heartbroken over a girl, who gets beaten up by her boyfriend but ends up sleeping with the ex boyfriend who lies to the older girl, oh and what happens to her?
A foreign who comes home in search of love. Meets his mate (fat kid), but ends up in one big misunderstandings that only get resolved in final episode!!
Overall : I can't honestly this is worth, unless yi need to shirtless muscle men.
Was this review helpful to you?
It is good acting
My review could be biased as I watched this series solely for Max Nattapol and he was just too good but was disappointed as his scenes were too less in this series. He looks as hawtt and gorgeous as always and seeing Tul at the end as a guest just made my MaxTul heart happy. The others were also good but the only thing I felt was that d story line could have been improved as it was not something that held my attention for long. I already could second guess correctly the story but just my thirst to see Max kept me watching it. So do watch if you are a huge MaxTul fan to just enjoy Max in all his forms with his superb acting skills and to see Tul as a guest appearance.Was this review helpful to you?
To tell you the truth, even though I watched it all, I wasn't really interested in any other people in this, I really only watched for Max. I wouldn't mind watching his steamy/romantic line with man OR woman: as long as it was satisfactory.
Though, they DID cast Tul Pakorn here too... but, only as cameo at the end, I'm sure it was meant like a little joke to the audience:) Max's pairing with Ten Tosatid, THAT had spark. I must praise the casting. Their scenes were awesome, but too far apart (there are episodes where they only almost meet or one sees the other from far apart and leaves) and it was like there was still something missing. Episode runtime was not a long one, and besides the other character's lines they were both dealing with other people inbetween. There was too much of that "Jennista" and "childhood backstory" cr*p.
Overall, this show was just everything that outwardly looks cool in the opening credits, but... I was not interested in the "innocence" theme. Hopping from one "glittering scene" to the other, this might just as well have 3 episodes or 33 episodes and the result would be similar...
Was this review helpful to you?
