Twins (2023)

Could Have Been A Better Watch Indeed

When Lovemedia Thailand first started with the promotions, “Twins The Series” was marketed as a sport themed BL. Whilst the Thai BL industry is filled with high school dramas or engineering misnomers, we were never offered a full fledged sports drama. As such, the expectations were high from a cast that included handsome hunks who seemed to fit the bill of volleyball players. Either ways, I was never enthusiastic about sports labeled shows. But then my X timeline was filled with spoilers once the show premiered; the end result- I gave in to the urge. The pilot episodes were pretty lame and dragged on; nothing substantial to hold onto. So, why did I continue on this journey? Despite the mediocre writing with abundant potholes, the lead pairing manage to savage the show. Without pulling any punches, let’s dive into this review!

Read the complete article here-

https://the-bl-xpress.com/2024/02/09/twins-series-review-ep-1-to-12/

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Like or dislike? That is the question...

Ok, so... I really don't know what to think of this series. On one hand, I really liked it and binge watched it without pausing (what I do when I don't really like a show). But on the other hand, I disliked a lot of things that I got very frustrated at times.

I mostly agree with a lot of comments and reviews on this page so I'm probably going to just write those points again but here I go.

First, the editing was horrendous - especially at the end of the series. There is one scene in which First told Sprite (whom he still thinks he's Zee) why he was mad (Zee said that he was dating Salmon and that he never liked him) and the next scene with them, Sprite goes to First all smiles and he's surprised that First is mad and asked him why... If First didn't say back to him it was because of what he said earlier, I would've thought the scriptwriters forgot about the mall scene just before... The same happened after Sprite told First the truth. First is mad at him and asks him to leave him alone and the next scene, First goes see him, Sprite hugs him and First is okay with that?! Those are the scenes that shocked me the most but there are more nonsense like that throughout the series... It's so confusing...

Second, they dragged the plot sooo much that they could've made 8 or 10 episodes maximum, it would've been way better. After Zee recovers from his injuries, they invented a false excuse for him to live the life of Sprite that it got ridiculous. Why would Zee want to live Sprite's life when he wanted to get his life back as soon as possible. Also, they brushed it off so fast, they didn't even show much of his life as Sprite that this plot was totally unnecessary. And the whole lie thing... Oh, my word!!! I even got spoilt before watching the series so I knew the lie was not going to be revealed until the very last episode and still! I got so frustrated because of it... I knew they wanted to make some drama but it was so ridiculous that it would've been better for Sprite to tell First the truth sooner and then they could've take the time to reconcile in a propre way (because it was way too fast in my opinion). I really pitied First when one day Zee (who was actually Sprite) was all lovey dovey and then the next day, he was cold as ice. And the worst thing is that we had scenes with Sprite after that, complaining to his friend that he didn't know why First was mad at him... This guy is so dumb...

Third, there are so many plot holes... They start something but they don't show much of how it is resolved. For example, Zee got drugged and couldn't play his match so Sprite came to the rescue. But we don't know how he knew Zee needed help (I suppose Zee called him but it's just a supposition as no scenes showed him make the call) and we don't know if he managed to do his own match (because of course, the jiu jitsu and the volleyball matches were always on the same day...). Also, Koh was never punished for drugging Zee's water (nobody actually talked about this drugged moment after that, it was never mentioned, it's as if it never existed...). The same goes for the ones responsible for Zee's assault. No punishments whatsoever. And the conflict between them and Sprite was a bit shown at the beginning, Sprite knew who were his brother's assaulters, but he does nothing until his brother miraculously finds a CCTV camera (which is illogical because the assaulters said at the beginning that there were no cameras so...).

Fourth, I think this is a shame that we don't see Sprite doing jiu jitsu as much. I know he's busy with covering up for his brother doing volleyball but it's as if he totally gives up on jiu jitsu and then, when there's a match, he's ready for his match (but how could he be ready without practice?...). Also, I think we all agree on the fact that Zee is a jerk. We have no explanation whatsoever as to why he's acting like that with his teammates. I first thought he didn't really like volleyball and that it was his mother who was forcing him continue, but he proved me wrong at the end so it is just the proof that he's simply a jerk. Also, being mad at his brother just because of a puzzle is, once again, ridiculous. But it was not the first time that the show made some dumb decisions...

As a whole, although the series got me frustrated so many times, I still enjoyed it. I really liked the two main actors. I also like the supporting cast, even though I wasn't really interested in their stories (and thank God for that because I felt for the fans of Jack and Mike's ship when they summed up their story by "I can't see you as more than a friend" - it was hilarious to be honest). The plot could've been much better if it was better edited, directed and, sometimes, acted. My main problem with this series will always be the editing choice and the script that sometimes made no sense at all.

Would I recommend this series? Definitely! It's a good watch. But I would totally understand if you don't like it.

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I still feel sorry for First

I didn't expect much from the plot so I was not really disappointed but I was a bit irritated with all the loose ends. It's good that they didn't try to explain everything in detail but a lot of things still didn't make sense. I liked the side couple, that was a nice side story and they had a good chemistry, but nothing deep there. But in the end, I was just pissed at Sprite and Zee. I just didn't like how it all ended with First. It felt really unfair how he was tangled in their sh*t and how they fucked with his head. For me, there should be more explaining and more apologizing. I mean how could you forgive someone so easily and how could they not question the change in Zee’s behaviour? I believe there were a lot of people who enjoyed this but I think it wasn’t for me. Also I really despised the toxic mother in this show and wasn't happy with the nice family picture their showed us at the end.

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Chemistry makes up for sloppy storytelling

Watched while airing.

Seeing the overall rating and other reviews, I think I should maybe re-watch and see what I missed that was so bad? Yes, the story is just above average,. Yes, the "lie" is stretched until the last ep. Yes, the side characters or side-stories are not the best. But in my opinion, this is perfectly made up by the two main leads.

Ryan and Frame have never acted together before, but they seem like a wel-seasoned BL-couple. The dislike in the beginning is already full of chemistry, and this does not go away once they actually get together. All scenes they have together are flawless and I was having butterfly-overdose and that is actually what is most important for me in BL. I wnat that flutter, that melting, these looks.

The only thing I definitely hated about the show was the theme-song. Not to insult anyone, but the singer sounds like she's 80 years old. Did someone owe someone else a favor by letting her sing this otherwise perfectly good song? Well, nevermind. It did not affect my experience that much, just a slight annoyance. I will definitely re-watch this show at some point to re-live this awesome chemistry.

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Hot Actors Mediorce Writing Missed Opportunities

Okay first let me say I liked the concept. The actors were pretty decent but the story was all over the place. Frame is a new actor but I think he managed to give Zee and Sprite a different attitude that they seemed different enough.

While Sprite had a goofy smile seemingly happy go lucky, Zee was always mean mugging and so cold and hateful except with Salmon.

It seemed they totally abused First as Sprite allowed Zee to continue to crush First' sprit. I loved First he was so soft and loving even when angry. I think First loved Zee even though Zee treated him like crap. So when Zee changed First was immediately into him even though it was Sprite.

I wish to have seen First in a room with both twins. One madly in love with him, the other that hated him. But this was a cliche BL but props to the actors foe pulling it off.

I hope to see Ryan (First) again. Although he also appears in FOR HIM. Same for Frame (Sprite/Zee) get this man a good BL and a good director and he will soar.

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Seeing Double (in anger)

Twins, on paper, sounds very interesting. Twins, on the screen, failed to deliver big time. The story is so convoluted, wasting large amounts of time for no reason, with little to NO resolve by the end.

Biggest Plus - Great acting. Esp for the Zee / Sprite actor. He pulled off the different personalities very well. I loved Sprite and wanted to shove Zee's head into the toilet a majority of the time. I commend him for sinking his acting chops into this worthless piece of script writing and giving it his full effort.

Biggest Negative - We call it Twins, give them this weird storyline and a not so clear wrench between them. We spend 11 episodes absolutely hating Zee and by ep 12, he smiles a little and all is forgiven? Same thing for First, he's lied to by Sprite for 11 episodes and get a half assed explanation in ep 12. It was just too much of all the wrong things for me.

Takeaways - Get these boys in another series because they're great and definitely deserve a lot better.

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I don't know what to say.

The actors were good the cast was also good but what spoiled it was the script. I also liked that it was a sports drama, and it had very handsome actors.

Characters - I liked them, the acting was not bad
But Zee, this man is a piece of trash. you despise those
around you and still keep moving with your life.He was
such a jerk to the team.

Plot- this is what made the entire show bad. Whoever wrote this needs improvement. cause honestly it would have been great; especially with this cast.

They really dragged that lie, it was so frustrating to watch them saying nothing. First already despide Sprite, so it didn't really matter what he would tell him.

Honestly ep 11 was just a waste of time.

One thing that really disturbed me, was the way the writers changed Sprite into a red flag. Like he should have given First time to prosses what he said about the twins thing. And the way he just came across skipping everything and is like be my boyfriend. First does not even know you and you want to be dating already.
Another thing how did Jack and mike go back to being friends after all they have done to each other? (just wondering)

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Cute Series

The Series was fun to watch over all there were great characters and funny moments. The cast did a great job showing development and took us on a ride of friendship and working together. The lead's chemistry was good and a nice twin touch overall. The twin idea worked out very well and was playful yet dramatic so that you could see the differences between the actor playing the two roles. You saw the personality and the development of the brothers and the relationship growing. The only real down part was the whole Jack sleeping with his best friend, I get the concept but it just was not fun to watch, it was a hot moment but was not a friend of the idea friends with benefit for them it just felt wrong happy they stopped at the end. The two lead pairings were fun and great to watch them grow and see the chemistry form. I was not at all a fan of the mother she was very messed up.

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Good Series; Really Lousy Script

The allegory behind this theme is fascinating. Its screenplay is where it fell flat. If they had followed the initiative of the story, the saga would have been a way more compelling BL. Instead, it became spasmodic. The receptivity behind this story is very good; the screenwriting is simply awful. Frankly despite its awful screenplay, this is well acted, and the actors and actresses did the best they could with a lousy script. This series is deeper than what it is given credit for. It gets lost in the endless and totally unnecessary cat-and-mouse, ‘enemies-to-lovers’ fiasco. Thai BLs absolutely need to get out of the rut of being formulaic. This series was a shameful waste. This was good; it just was not great. But it could have been.

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Dropped...Sorta

So I made it to episode 7 of this throwback series, reminding me of all of what we had in 2016, mixed with a little HIStory 2: CTL. And to be completely honest, I don't hate this, not like the usual BLs that I drop specifically because I hate them, with this one, it's just very very -- boring. With so many characters, side couples, and plots, it's hard to keep up. And then on top of that, this is languid pace, not only the romances but just the plot in general. How much longer am I to wait for Sprite to tell them he's not Zee? How much longer until the inevitable with First hating SPrite because he didn't tell him? Or let me guess, Zee comes back First is weirded out by him not being in love with him all of a sudden? Classic. Classic and overdone.

Let's Dive In.

I was originally really excited about this, one, because the men in this series are drop-dead gorgeous, and two, I like Twins Switch story tropes. It reminded me a lot of my love for Not Me when it came out, and even though this plot looked a lot more frivolous than NM, it still brought on a little nostalgia, so why not? Episodes 1-3 were probably the best episodes. It sets up the plot nicely without dragging on the start of the conflict, and we see Sprite navigating the ins and
outs of volleyball and his team. It's good. But by then, it was just so draggy. The hospital scenes, the scene of his taekwondo, the useless dialogue, all over it went on for wayyyy too long. Even by episode 7, when we finally get a kiss, I just decide to drop because I see the future, and I don't like it. The reason I say I kind of dropped is because I still skimmed through some of the episodes and watched the very last one, but I say dropped because I might've skimmed too much (lol).

Overall, falls short of delivering a compelling narrative or meaningful character development. Everyone felt one-dimensional, while the plots were cliche and lacking. It's way too predictable, following tired tropes without offering any fresh new perspectives (besides the twin switch). In addition to all of this, the pacing is uneven and way too freaking tedious, leading to massive amounts of boredom and being disengaged from the story. So, yeah, I guess I kind of hated it.


ratings:

Story: 5/10 - was such a good build-up to the conflict, and even had some special gems, but overall, it's just too boring.

Acting: 7.5/10 - Everyone was pretty new, but from what I could see, most of it was decent. There were a couple of characters whose acting was mediocre at best, but it wasn't unwatchable. Frame was definitely the best actor.

Music: 6/10 - wasn't distracting.

Recommendation Value: 3/10 - Honestly, it's not a one just cause I would definitely recommend looking at these beautiful creatures, because goddamn. Otherwise, save your time.

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☙〠 IT IS WHAT IT IS...( IT IS WHAT IT IS...) 〠❧

I think the premise plot is really interesting.
For those who have seen Not me the series as me, I thought that they handled very well the edition and passage, from one twin to another; At the very beginning it was clear, somehow in the middle, it got a little confused but still understandable;

I liked ⚡︎TenTuss⚡︎ couple, the one that played Mike and Jack ( volleyball captain),their chemistry was top knot , I'm shocked that they DON'T ENDED UP TOGETHER !!! When nothing made sense they were there for us, delivering ... I enjoyed every moment they got screen time, it's not easy to a side couple BE WANTED THAT BAD,(at least for me)!!!!

Can't pass without mentioning that I loved, how they symbolically brought the puzzle between the siblings, showing their understanding, care, forgiveness and new beginning;

Overall, it was a good show, focusing on their sportive life, what I really appreciated, but I think there's still room for improvement :

With 12 episodes I can't understand how:
The twins, Salmon and First's characters were light and without further development;

⇧ Starting by the twins - Once they switched places and have to live each other lives, I was expecting to see P'Zee making efforts to talk nice with his teammates, and to better himself before starting pursuing Salmon. And HE HAD THE CHANCE TO DO THAT having Thun, Sprite's friend the most sociable and trustworthy person, so HOW COME...

⇧ Then we have P'Sprite, he seemed to be the cool, chill and carefree version of P'Zee. So it was predictable that when the time comes, that he realised that he fell in love, he W-O-U-L-D undoubtedly confess his love AND tell the true about his identity because he is the twin that "ruins everything", according to P'Zee's optic.
How-e-ver, he's unable to tell P'First the truth from the 7th episode that he realised his feelings, so that means that he passed half of the show without telling the truth; I just think that his actions doesn't match with the image they transmitted on viewer's spirit, and he had another opportunity on 9th episode, at the mall , but it was clear for me that he wasn't bothered by being called by someone else's name(☀︎)... In brief, he doesn't even put an effort even to say a metaphor, or potential clues;
And despite the fact, that I liked Sprite's character the most,=(I swear to you guys that I liked his character the most)=, with all his flaws, I think that he needed to suffer more, because he sustained a big lie, he was easily forgiven ,but with one episode left what was I really expecting ?

⇧ Salmon...(uhhh), she seemed to have a crush on P'Sprite, maybe that started because of their identical physical appearance but then, when she got to know him, she liked how approachable he(P'Sprite), made people be around him, although she gave me the impression of being a little selfish. I hoped that the friendship that grew up between Sprite and her, would have some impact on the story, but she acted as an outsider;

⇧ And P'First... he had multiple chances to investigate "P'Zee", especially at the start when he don't knew his intentions; why he didn't follow "P'Zee" around when he sneaked out the dormitory, to know what he was doing ??? When "P'Zee" was talking on the phone why he doesn't gather more informations and was hot-tempered ?? At the mall, he saw his partner's reaction plus the warm/cold treatment he received ; From one side or another I hoped that the truth was find sooner;But do I really care about these details ? N-OOOO,I still enjoyed the show though ♥︎♡

✬At the end, no matter how many options I had on mind... ☙IT IS WHAT IT IS ❧

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