My Stand-In (2024)

Joe Needs To Be Slap With A Rubber Chicken

What annoys me the most is that, Ming put Joe through hell, all because he was in love with a guy who acts like he sniffs glue and sells hair nets on e-bay.

That being said. There must have been a 2-for-1 special on stupidity, cuz Joe sure bought a whole lot.

CHARACTERS:
Listen. Joe is a bummer. He makes sadness look pathetic. He’s like that friend who always ruins the mood whenever you ask them how they’re doing:

ME: Oh, hey, friend, how was your day?

Bummer Friend: Nothing much. My cat is in therapy. I wanna get a perm, but I don’t think I have the face for it. My parents threw me out so I’m living under a bridge now, and I got hit by a bus last week and died. ?

Sure, sure, we can argue that Joe is pathetic because he couldn’t catch a break, and every time he did, it was at the expense of his self-respect, but damn… the dude just bummed me out. So much that when he died the second time, I was chewing on my popcorn like:

ME: Oh, noo, dude…you like, got shot and stuff…you rolling down the stairs dude…is you dead again?... (Side note: Did they really have to make him roll down the stairs like that? It was just sad.)

And yes, we all love/hate a no-self respecting, pathetic love-sick fool character. The only reason I watched ‘Theory Of Love’ was that bathroom scene where Gun got his heartbroken, and he was crying under the shower, but the water stopped, so he had to use bottled water. I laughed like there was no tomorrow, then went and made popcorn so I could binge-watch the rest of the series, and judge him through the screen.

So yeah, throughout the series whenever Joe did anything dumb, which was every time he opened his mouth. I went:

ME: Yayy, go on honey, be a dumb-ass, stay with that dude who took your virginity and can’t even remember it, and refers to you as a ‘stand in’, because he’s in love with a guy built like a Minecraft table.

Some of the things Joe did, and allowed Ming to do to him, busted my mind. And what do you mean he DIED again because of TONG! TONG!!!  I understand if it was like for a person person, but Tong? Come on son! Do-gooders should come with a ‘self-sacrificing idiot’ forehead tag or something, cuz... Bishes be crazy!

And sure, Joe was a tortured, handsome fella who needed love, But, Joe, Joe, oh Joey, Jojo, Jeremiah, Josephina. To quote Earth from Moonlight Chicken: ‘How you gonna be poor, gay and dumb at the same time, child?.’ He suffered so much because… *check notes*

1. He had no family. (His dream was for someone to turn on the lights in his house.)
2. He had (1) friend. (And that friend wanted to get into his pants, but yaay friendship, right?)
3. He was a ‘stand-in’ boyfriend(eff buddy?). (Sure Ming hit him in the head with a baseball bat, kidnapped him, chained him up, caused him to fall off a cliff and die, but hey, at least they had his-and-his mugs. So, awwww love.)

I don’t even know what to say about Joe. Do I dislike the character, I guess not, because he’s too sad to even dislike. I just couldn’t get over all the dumb decision he made… **check notes** again:

1. Gave his virginity to Ming who was drunk off his arse
2. Asked Ming to move in with him so he could turn on his lights for him.
3. Died, came back, and went straight to Ming to be his stand-in ho. He wasn't even the main ho at that point, he was like a stand-in ho, for a stand-in ho.
4. Accepted Ming’s broke arse! (Dude, you are poor, how you gonna take care of him and your sick fake mom?)
5. Got kidnapped (again) and beaten for TONG. TONG!!
6. Died again so he can protect Ming. (You know, the guy who treated him like used slippers.)

I kept screaming, ‘No, girl, no, no!’ every time he made another dumb decision. Homeboy gets a second chance, complete with a whole new face and everything. And I thought he was gonna move cities, start over, join a local church or something but, the mfer was like:

JOE: Well…the thing is…you know…Ming glued the mugs together, you know the one I broke when he mistook me for his sister’s wife, who he’s in love with? Haha… he has changed… he wears old lady blouses, and wants to keep me as his ho… in exchange for money, so… yeah, *in love noises*

ME: This dumb-ass mother… *throws chair**

For one split second I thought he'd finally learned something, because he was like : "No Ming, this second chance is mine!" (Only to immediately proceed to try and get out of a moving car.) A moving car. Like???? And after all that yelling and 'Ming forget the old Joe, this body doesn't love you', homeboy didn't even make it half way down the traffic light!

And while he was talking about 'If you loved the old Joe why did you make me your paramour.' my arse was rolling my eyes at the screen going 'dude stop using that fancy arse word, use your government name, yous is a ho. A stand-in ho.'

Joe just vexes me! Every time he gives Ming those poppy dog in-love eyes I go.
Child! Child! Stop, Run. You must be a special brand of stupid to die, get a second chance, then go straight to the person who caused your death. JUST, WHY?? ARE YOU OKAY?

At this point, I’m gonna console myself by believing that Joe is color blind, cuz there’s no rational reason as to why he returned to Ming a second time. WHY??? And in the finale he’s talking about 'I forgive you, forgive yourself, I’ll always choose you cuz I don’t know what I’ll live for if not for you?' ‘CHILD! How about your fake mom? huh? How about living a life where you are not afraid your partner will hit you upside the head with a bat??’

You know what, eff Joe! My blood pressure can’t.

But like, Poom is an amazing actor!! Most bl actors looks like they are laughing or sniffing glue whenever they cry, but Poom was different. Even his eyes could act. Beautiful talented man. But Joe though, the bummer can go hug a tree.

Okay, on a side note, are we going to ignore the fact that, that woman’s son died and she didn’t even got to mourn? Sure, Joe is a good son to her and whatnot, but damn, homeboy took over that body with zero guilt.

—
MING. oh, MING.

HAHAHA. Some people talking about, ‘Girl, Ming is just a RED FLAG. AND???!’ HAHAHA. My sister, even if na red sea, I go still take cup drink ‘em!

Cuz we love drama in this house. And Ming, oh Ming, talk about a guy you wanna punch under a mistletoe. My anger when it came to him was unhealthy. Do I wish he go bury himself in a hole at the centre of the sun and die? Sure. Is his toxic arse gonna make me add this drama to one of my favs? HECK YEAH.

Listen. Ming, like an old rag, deserves to be taking out every spring and beaten. This little guy, who acts like the world bothers him (I just remembered Joe let a collage? graduate drive him off a cliff.) mistreated our gentle soul Joe, because he saw someone’s back in a mall one time. I mean, how you gonna fall in love with Tong, your sister’s boyfriend, who looks like a dollar store bubblehead?

Ming was so toxic and for what? TONG? The guy who used his unborn child as a bargain? The guy who on so many occasions broke your heart. TONG!

And after everything Ming did, the writers gave him like two ‘redeemable’ scenes, changed one red traffic light into green, said sorry under some shooting star, made him wear those silly cute aprons, and expected me to forgive him. LMAO I’m not Joe, I’m not gonna come back and let him eff me again. One time is enough!

But they almost got me in the finale though ^^. With all the smiling, crying and shooting stars, and tiny clay pots and aprons… but I stood my ground like. ’No, you will not get me to forgive Ming, not today Satan!’ So yeah, eff the tiny pot , apron, and the shooting stars, I’mma still hold on to my hatred.

Also, how in the hell did Ming manage to stop Joe from opening that afterlife door? Mfer is next level of toxic. He was like: 'Bish, where you think you going, I'm not done with you. If you don't get your arse back in here.' Poor Joe, the devil works hard, but Ming works harder.

UP did so well with this character, because I see UP on my fyp on tiktok and I grin and coo and go, bestest boy. But the moment Ming shows up on screen I wanna throw tiny rocks into his eyes and push him off a small cliff.

TONG
Hmm. Ha. Hmhm. Haha. Hahaha. HAHAKAHBIERJWOJFWNF. AHHHHHHHHHHH. GAWDDD, sure Ming deserves to be poke in the eye with a sharp object, but TONG deserves to be slap repeatedly with a glove, then you know, kicked into that black hole at the centre of the milky way. Eff that dude!

And ,and, after all he did, he got no retribution whatsoever!! I swear, this world is not fair. And the last episode wanted me to feel happy for him, but he’s smiling and I’m rolling my eyes like:, ‘Happiness don’t even look right on him, dude out here looking like the inside of a pencil case. Arrgggg, take a long nap under that pool, please!!’

Somewhere out there in drama world, Tong is happy with his wife and chubby son, and I wish he steps on a lego every time he smiles. And he chokes every time he drinks. XDD

SOL:
Now tell me why every time this dude popped up, I went, ‘My brother, my brother, go sit somewhere, this ain’t about you!’ LMAO. Sure he was an o-kay-ish friend, but he was like a tiny red-flag with a green wrapping, so shifty, looking like that one lizard in ‘SING!’

In the finale when he took his sorry-arse bag and got into the car with the stranger, I was like: ‘Sure, dude, get kidnap and die. See if I care.’ So, yeah, I wish him all the best, I guess.

PLOT
Interesting concept, I am tempted to read the book I heard this was based on. I think the actors did what they were supposed to. I hated and liked them accordingly, so they did their job well.

THINGS THAT DIDN’T MAKE SENSE
- Joe’s fighting skills going away whenever he needed it
- Writers trying to make us forgive Ming
- Joe literally letting himself be kidnap for TONG
- TONG being a popular actor. (Like, did that dude ever shoot enough scenes to make a finish drama?)
- TONG being forgiven!! Seriously??? Nothing?

THINGS THAT MADE SENSE
**Crickets**

Anyway, I might write more later on the finale, especially on the family, but for this review I just wanted to vent my frustration with Joe.

All in all, one of the best shows this year, up there with Unknown.

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Great Actors Wasted On Terrible Story

I want to preface this negative review with saying the actors were great. This was a very well-acted series. Even the smallest characters were very fitting for their roles and they played them well.

The story, however, was a decent premise from the start that derailed into 'oh well, all the psycho stalker toxicity is forgiven because he got sad. To avoid spoilers, let's just say Ming was the reddest red flag ever who never actually underwent any sort of redemption arc, he just got forgiven because he cried a lot about how heartbroken he was over the tragedy of his own making. He was a deranged, psychotic, obsessive, abusive stalker and that sometimes can work really well (ie: Vegas in KP, where he was always a psychotic, cold-blooded murderer whose lover was also sick and twisted, so Toxic4Toxic fit) but in this case, where Joe is so genuine and sweet and kind, him forgiving Ming isn't out of character, but that isn't how the 'rules' of filmmaking work. In a reasonable 'rules of filmmaking' series, Ming would have no happy ending and Joe would.

I honestly about halfway through thought that it was going to be a revenge story where Joe seeks his revenge on Ming for all he did to him and Joe would end up with Sol. THAT would have been an amazing series. Unfortunately, we got this BS.

6/10, do not recommend.

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