This review may contain spoilers
The Power Of A Mother’s Love Amidst Predatory Behavior, Exploitation & Gaslighting
The ending makes this story a little tough to rate. Although the ending is good (7.5-8/10), can it make up for the other 70% of the story that is total garbage? Was it really necessary to focus so much on the sleaze (even promoting it extensively) and to give the mom, whose story this belongs to, so little screen time until the last 2.5 episodes?Jaron and Rose did not need all those scenes. I understand story build up, but the way this was done felt extremely exploitative. It honestly could have been done in a more respectful manner. It’s possible. I’ve seen it done. "Motherhood" from ThaiPBS as a more recent example.
I would have preferred more time spent on the aftermath with the moms working hard being single parents and doing the best they can raising their daughters. Instead, we just get a short narration and a 1 minute scene of it. Like I sat through at least 6 hours of garbage, they could have at least given me a 5 minute montage of the aftermath.
I think a 6 for the story is fair. I'm adding another 0.5 for the ending's message showing that the best thing a mom can do for herself and her child is to leave an oppressive relationship/marriage. I feel that many people stay in unhappy marriages for their children, but that isn't necessarily the best thing to do especially when it involves infidelity, violence and or an overall lack of respect and human decency. To each their own of course. Everyone's situation is different.
I wish the story could have been told better. There are important themes here like single parent households, LGBTI youth in dysfunctional families, why patriarchy is bad, gaslighting to name some. Had they spent more time tackling those themes better instead of trying to attract viewers with the sleaze, this could have been an empowering story worth watching and discussing .
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It's funny how it's shown that both Rose & Tong are unhappy and would probably prefer to switch places. As they both appreciate different things, which are the exact opposite of what they receive, and which happen to be the only ones available to the other girl. On the somber note, both Dueandem & Wandee try to be good mothers in their own way. Wandee's way proves to have more weakness. Resulting thus in weaker character of her daughter. Dueandem is more self-sacrificing, resulting in her daughter's character being stronger, more mature but also it comes with a price.
I think the audience can easily relate to the "slice of life" story, of course depending on what kind of home a person comes from. Then there comes Nike Nitidons's character, wooing Rose's mother with sweet words like from fairy tales. The false note immediatelly sounds very prominent. From the drama point of view, the show has standard quality of music, acting, editing etc. but of course it all kinda feels flat as any kiss is so obviously faked. I can accept this kind of lukewarm performance if the show at least offers romantic escape, but problem with 'Club Friday' is they try to bless us with "real life" stories which they then work with the same way as the fictional ones so the only difference is that it's not romantically enjoyable. Therefore, I don't need to watch this all unfold (obviously no Nike Nitidon/Nonny Nutcha steamy kiss scene awaits us anyways:) and can suffice with 1 episode only.
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