Leap Day

LEAP DAY WTF.

Honestly I never thought I would absolutely SOB while watching a gmmtv series, this is the first, sure I’ve cried but I couldn’t stop sobbing until I saw day’s finger move. I NEED a special episode or two so we can see day with ozone, night, & dream again. I love how the whole time they were talking about night this and night that but in the end it was day. Day and Ozone’s relationship theyre the best brothers ever. I’m sorry but I have to say this again; I SOBBED OVER A GMMTV SERIES. which some of you would be like; “wait what?” In my opinion gmmtv cannot make a serious series, but leap day just proved me wrong. Like, yes, it had funny moments but it would be kind of depressing if it didn’t, but I’m so glad gmmtv finally put this out and I 110% recommend.

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Worth it1

This was such an interesting plot! The story follows two guys, Day and Night, who were both born on February 29. Because of this birthday curse, every leap year someone they love dies. That trauma makes them isolate themselves and avoid getting close to anyone, thinking it’s the only way to protect the people around them.

I really liked how the story keeps you guessing. You’re always wondering what’s going to happen next and if they’ll ever be able to break the curse. It keeps the suspense going until the end.

The friendship between Night, Day, Ozone, and Dream is honestly one of the best parts. Their bond feels real, and their characters are well-written. You can really feel their emotions and struggles.

Acting-wise, everyone did a great job, but Ozone’s actor really stood out to me. He brought so much depth to his character and made the emotional scenes hit harder.

The mysterious background music also adds a lot to the vibe. It makes everything more intense and engaging.

Overall, it’s definitely worth watching!

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eMOtiOnAl DAmAgE

the story, pacing, and actors had me eagerly waiting for every Tuesday to come. While it may have been oversaturated with drama and injuries/violence, each incident was well carried out by the actors and I remained engaged throughout the series. extra props to Gun as Ozone 🤍
the finale had me sobbing like a baby and it was a twist that I wasn’t expecting at all. the hints in the second to last episode went well over my head, so I was properly gutted by the ending☹️
many GMMTV shows are a bit predictable, so I enjoyed being completely caught off guard. I highly recommend this series, but do proceed with caution if you don’t like shows with traumatic scenes and sadness.

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Leaps without thinking

It would have been great if there was equal care in the writing of the story as there were in the crafting of the various death scenes that range from heart breaking to cool looking. It feels like the show was more of vehicle to serve showing off the effects than the effects serving the story. That works for an attractive trailer, but not a satisfying story. A majority of the plot progression relied on the characters making the most frustratingly unintelligent decisions or things that just make no sense at all.

Dream's actress whose overacting when it comes to portraying peppiness was easier to be overlooked in her previous role in the romcom My Love Mix Up, but is particularly off putting in this story that needs a more grounded performance. Dew who plays Night has potential, but he has yet to find that breakthrough in the limits of his emotional range. The romance between Night and Dream has no inherent chemistry, though it does make internal story sense that the extremely isolated and lonely Night would fall for someone who cares about him and constantly around him. Aside from that, there isn't any kind of bond that develop between them aside from proximity that makes them worth rooting for.

Night knows Dream doesn't care about boundaries for good or ill, always forcing her way into his life and has already has penchant stumbling into traffic on a regular day, but instead of telling her to just give him space for one day or that he's leaving town for that time or something, he does it in the worse way possible, especially when she's already shown up at his house. He himself shouts for her to leave and then realizes she's exposed to being run over by cars and decides to driver her home himself instead of going back to his house where it's closer to ride out the final destination curse that is also affecting Day and Ozone. This is the only accident where it's not her fault, but Ozone running into the path of the car. All the other times is either her dropping glass on the kitchen floor then slipping from rushing, her slipping from rushing down the emergency stairs with no particular reason to run, and then her rushing into traffic towards Ozone. She is a danger to herself.

Ozone at least has an excuse for running into traffic as he's already sensitive from his autism, but also even more so with the disorientation of fear and the universe signals. He knows from his vision dreams later to not rush forward, just calling out to Night from a safe distance of the on coming traffic. His familial bond and relationship with Day is the heart of the story. Ozone's actor Gun is a fantastic actor and while the GMMTV shows are extremely hit or miss, especially ones that are contractually ship pairing based, his performances are always the best. Pond who plays Day is serviceable. Day is the one who utilizes the most sense comparatively in the entire show. He remains kind and amiable despite living through all the familial losses that Day has. It was really lovely how he models patiently interacting and communicating with Ozone instead of being angry or forceful to get Ozone to do what he wants.

I like the scene where his co-worker shop clerk calls his cousin a dimwit, so he counters by quizzing the clerk which planet the sticker from the blind box that Ozone definitely knows is, which the clerk can't answer. He's a film major who has an open mind and kind heart, but not necessarily the skills or scientific mind needed to break the curse on his own. Night is the one studying medical science to prevent deaths, but he's very closed minded and defeatist. Even when change literally hits him like a car crash in the form of Day and Ozone that results in zero deaths for the first time in his life, he refuses to work together with Day for way too long. When he finally does, he's able to decipher Ozone's drawings that contain messages from the universe that's trying to be helpful. Also as an aspiring doctor, Night immediately agrees that passing the curse on to two innocent women who will immediately die, followed by all the loved ones of the surviving children every 4 years sounds great even though he has 4 years to figure out if there is an alternative or not. He only chickens out when he's facing experimenting on an actual woman without her consent.

Props to Dream for immediately breaking up with Night and for Professor/Dr. Wiwat's wife and daughter for immediately leaving after learning about his essentially knowing serial killing via curse on their unwitting behalf. Dr. Kit goes about trying to communicate with Day and Ozone in the most traumatizing, criminal way possible made all the worse with the reveal that he is a doctor who should know better than to treat a neurotypical person, let alone an autistic person like that. He didn't even try the regular way of just straight up talking like regular person. He knows that a Leap Day curse sufferer would want to know some more information already. Just approach Day when he's not around Night or if it really must be Ozone, talk to him nicely whenever he's waiting for Day to get out of class and Dream isn't there either.

It's interesting that there were Americans that were researching the Leap Day curse, implying that it's a worldwide phenomena. There wasn't much information on how far that research went before they let Wiwat know that passing on the curse that will cause a whole other two groups of people to die works. Did they try going to shamans? Did they try passing the curse to pregnant lab rats? Did Night's mom die at midnight and the Leap Day curse is only completed by force when Wiwat induced Day's mom's labour at noon and that's why people only noticed his suspicious misconduct for Day's birth? Also despite the first episode suggesting the curse works in a final destination kind of way, most of the time it's just an act of god style randomness. The heart attack and even the kdrama car of doom is fine. But the razor blade materializing in Ozone's noodles that Day personally made himself is nonsensical, especially when there was the broken fan blades from earlier that would have at least made some kind of sense. And as I mentioned before Dream just hurts herself by her near deadly clumsiness.

There is an uncomfortable trope of neuero atypical people having magical abilities that Ozone falls into, but the show supposes that him being a direct target and his mind is just different enough to be able to hear a force that opposes the destructive energy of the curse. The force seems to seek to protect Ozone in particular, pretty much telling Day that he needs to die for Ozone to be okay. It was set up by a social worker at the beginning that Day's aunt and uncle didn't leave much money behind for Ozone and that Day would need to get a job to provide for them both. Though never said by the show, Day probably thought sacrificing himself would be better because Night who had pretty much become family at that point after living together for 4 years at Night's house would be able to take care of Ozone. Dream's family is also in a dire economical circumstance as explained by a phone call that Night overhears, explaining why they never travelled to visit her even though she's been hospitalized for very extreme accidents more than once. Day had suspected it's what the universe was asking of him, but rather than discussing with anyone else, he kept it to himself and decided to be the noble idiot trope.

Was it not great that he just made the decision himself? Yes. Is it worse that the show chickens out and cheapens his sacrifice with a coma reveal? Yes. It opens more questions, like is the solution then to arrest the heart, resuscitate, and induce a coma? Did the force lie or did the interpret it wrong, that all four of them could have just left together all along if resuscitating worked all along? It would have been better if the show stuck to it's guns, having the purgatory wearing shirt Day be dead, but his spirit stuck in the weird in between place until the souls of his friends and family join him after living full lives and they move on together. But no good grade for the wishy washy concept that we get instead.

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High Potential, Poor Execution

Leap Day had a very interesting idea, but the execution was honestly disappointing. The story follows two characters, Day and Night, who were both born on Leap Day and are affected by a strange curse. Every four years, on their birthday, the curse takes away someone they love.

On their 20th birthday, something unusual happens, the people closest to them, Ozone (Day’s brother) and Dream (Night’s girlfriend), survive. This happens because Day and Night meet each other. From there, the story focuses on the four of them trying to understand the curse and find a way to stop it.

The biggest problem with the series is how inconsistent and poorly explained everything is. The characters never really try to understand why the curse exists. There is no proper explanation it just exists, and everyone accepts it. That makes the story feel incomplete and frustrating.
There are also many scenes that feel unrealistic or just badly written. For example, at one point, Day and Night suddenly think there might be a loophole in the curse and start searching their houses randomly without even knowing what they are looking for. It feels forced and not logical at all. The clues are right in front of them, but the characters struggle to understand something so basic. It makes them look unnecessarily clueless.

Another major issue is the timeline. The story jumps from 2020 to 2024, but there is zero sense of time passing. The characters don't change, the world doesn't change, and it feels like four months passed instead of four years. To make it worse, even after four years of "research," They are still confused about what they have to do until the very last second.

Despite all this, there are some positives. The relationship between Day and Ozone was the best part of the show. Ozone added humor, and Day as a brother was genuinely likable. Their bond felt real and was the only thing that kept me interested.
The ending involves a sacrifice where Day realizes he must die to break the loop. While the emotional payoff for the brothers was there, it didn't make up for the inconsistent writing and the lack of common sense from the main characters.

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Surprising

Seeing Pond and Dew in such different roles was very interesting, but seeing Gun as an autistic young man - after watching him in Burnout Syndrome - was outstanding! He *became* that character! I like him in Burnout, but I loved him in Leap Day!
The story was a little confusing at times, but once you suspend reality enough, you can immerse yourself in the story.
Pond was his usual brilliant self, and Dew played the arrogant, yet tender other Leap Day victim, very well.
Pahn played Dew's girlfriend so well, that I forgot that I'd Dew as a gay man in Burnout. She had depth that wasn't
apparent at first, but she changed and became a nurturer, as opposed to a clingy girl.
I hated the ending, but I guess you can't have a happy ending every time.

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devastating

I don’t know how I avoided spoilers but having just finished the series I don’t think anything could have prepared me for that ending. While I do enjoy the heartwrenching feeling dramas give, this is the first that has ended on such a tragic note. No miracle or happily ever after here. I was crying the last 20 minutes of the last episode. I can’t even say a particular character can be held accountable because it was an unavoidable end but along the timeline of the show they had over 3 years to enact their plan and they still lost in the end. This has to be one of Pond’s best performances and Gun was just perfect. I don’t think I’ll ever have the heart to rewatch it but I can say for sure it was one of the best I’ve seen this year.

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WORSE REPRESENTATION OF AUTISM EVER.

This is an almost copy/paste of a rant I posted on the drama's page... Before that, I'd say, I would have given this probably a 6.5/7 if wasn't for the misrepresentation of autism.

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THE SHORT REVIEW

The good stuff:

1. Very interesting premise
2. Unlike most GMMTV shows, literally no product placement
3. Good Acting overall
4. The Resolution was great... until it wasn't


The bad stuff


1. Story relies too much on Gun's acting ability to generate pathos... it's an important part of the drama... except that it's based on a complete misrepresentation of what autism is in the first place ( see RANT below)

2. Need to put one's brain on off-mode on several plot points: Dream's family literally absent, Night is a medical student... Exactly WHEN does this guy study? He's the most relaxed medical student I've ever seen in my life, also he's got err one single teacher, WTF? Day supposed to work to support his cousin financially, yet we only see him working at the beginning of the story, after that, dude's got as much free time as Night. I guess he started living off the money of his very wealthy and loaded friend. Sometimes some actions are just... there to fill the minutes but don't make sense plotwise. There's too many scenes like that to count and I guess after a while I just didn't bother thinking too much.

3. Too much nonsensical behavior from Ozone especially at the end for dramatic effect. Just fudging annoying for no reason.

4. Extra scenes or scenes dragged on purpose for the minute or episode count. BORING and ANNOYING

5. Emotional impact of the end completely ruined by a forced happy ending because these writers had NO BALLS to commit to the end. And so plotwise, were does that leave us? Isn't it back to the same problem we spent 12 episodes on?


Conclusion

One of the best GMMTV show I've seen... Except that since I've stayed away from GMMTV for a while ( we're talking at least 1 year and a half), the mediocrity, plot holes, and overall laziness of the writing is just jarring. Funny what staying away from mid-shows does to your brain... My tolerance level for nonsense which was running thin after years of GMMTV mediocrity wasn't recharged by staying away... It actually got even thinner.

Does it deserve the 8.6 overall ratings it got? Well NO, BUT in comparison to most GMMTV shows, this is among the top quality ones featuring popular actors ( there's lots of straight shows on GMM that get completely ignored so I don't know how it fairs next to those)... Given how generous people are rating BLs on MDL especially on GMMTV... I'd say, even though this is not a BL, it deserves its rating IN COMPARISON to other GMMTV shows.

But in comparison to other dramas? NAH. CERTAINLY NOT. Go watch a couple of One 31's shows. They're overly long but at least they're not lazy in the writing department even if sometimes it's a bit too much.

Suggested Rating: 4

Personal Rating: 3 (See RANT below)

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THE LONG RANT


AUTISTIC PEOPLE AREN'T OVERGROWN BABIES!

No they don't spend their time doodling with colored pencil, NO they don't need somebody to help them get changed, NO they're not gonna clap their hands for some stupid stickers.

ADULT AUTISTIC PEOPLE ARE ADULTS. THEY'RE MOSTLY INDEPENDANT, in fact given the proper environment, they earn their keep just fine which given Ozone's case should have been the case in this drama.

This is the WORSE representation of autism that I've ever seen. Nothing against the actor, that's how he was directed to act but NOPE, this isn't autism.

There are different degrees in autism and supposedly Ozone is on the severe side.

WELL then dear writers, there's an old movie made in 1988 which features two brothers, one with one of the most severe case of autism. It's called "RAIN MAN" featuring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman...

It's almost fudging 40 YEARS OLD and it did WAY BETTER than you at a time when autism wasn't as spread as it is now ( because yes sadly, this condition is on the rise) and people didn't know better.

GO WATCH IT NEXT TIME instead of perpetuating wrong ideas about it. F*** LAZY. DO YOUR RESEARCH!

Could have been enjoyable I guess if I wasn't familiar with autism on a personal level in the first place . All the emotional BS, Ozone hugging and all of that. Ha! What a joke. Doesn't happen in real life. You know... with people who are REALLY autistic.

Forced myself to finish this mess. The final "twist" is supposed to be all emotional but since all I could focus on was the fact that Ozone was behaving like an adult mentally challenged - which is again NOT the case with autism, they think different but they don't behave like children - it just pissed me off the whole time.

Do you realize that even autistic people who are Asperger for instance, so one of the mildest form - very difficult to detect, often only diagnosed when reaching adulthood - aren't comfortable with physical touch? Yet Ozone is clinging to literally everyone including people he barely knows.

Interesting story, but the whole autism thing is an eyesore. I'm not giving this a passing grade.

Next time, do better.

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Enjoyable but not the masterpiece I was expecting - LOVED the actors

I enjoyed this show a lot, specially the brotherly relationship between Ozone and Day, I didn't like Night very much and I know some people will defend him saying he is a complex character and so on, but tbh I junt think that's what the screenwriters want you to believe without giving him enough subtance to justify it, in the other hand, Dream was fine, she was cute but no my fav. The story was VERY promising but it coudn't keep up, there were a lot of plotholes and TOO many unasnwered questions, honetly at some parts I thought i was watching a Thai Final destination.
Overall I did like this show, however I probably would have rated it much lower if the actors hadn't done such a good job, without them this show wouldn't have been sostainable, so props to all of them.
Watch it if you like the actors, they truly delivered, but don't expect an instense level of complexity when it comes to the story.

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A Masterpiece that deserves more attention!

OMG! I was gonna wait until after ep 12 to write the review BUT EPISODE 7 was so freaking intense that I was holding my breath every other second hoping it doesn't end badly for everyone! And I had to come here and write about it! Lol
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! All four of them are doing a fantastic job with this series! I hope it goes on to win more awards because IT'S THAT GOOD!
The plot is so unique, with so many twists and turns that it will confuse your mind...in a good way!
Its been awhile since I watched horror/thriller dramas and this one is IT!
After Gifted s1 and s2, I think this series is gonna be one those rewatch 10/10 for me!
Gun is amazing as always 😍 such perfectionist! And Pond has blown my mind! His acting has improved by leaps and bounds! His relationship with Gun is portrayed so beautifully! Pond's expressions are so so good! The boy is going places after this one!

Please please watch this series! It's amazing!

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