This review may contain spoilers
Ragebait All The Way
This series is a joke. And not a good one.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand how it gets all the hype and good ratings.
Trailers vs. Actual Series
It starts with trailers that conveyed a completely different vibe than what it ended up being. We were shown an unapologetic black flag demon (not even mentioning the bl**dy library scene...), we got an apologetic red speckled green flag regular dude, who happens to have a dodgy side job.
It'd be too easy if it stopped there, though. How about changing the series' entire tone two more times? From "tragic dark romance" to "generic office romance" to "blunt soap opera". All within 12 episodes.
This I could still have lived with if the actual series wasn't this genuinely unbearable to watch.
The Characters and the Storyline
Dan
Everyone's hating Dan but, as annoying as he may be, that character is actually just a heat sink for the ludicrous plot and Little Jane. He's simply constructed to be this disgusting, so the other characters and story feel less silly. I also fail to see what he did wrong, apart from being annoying, in the first place. In the end, they had to force a crazy and completely out of the blue revenge/kidnapping plot on him to justify his villainy. I feel sorry for the actor, the role is deeply ungrateful (bro himself is doing great acting it, though).
Little Jane
Seriously, the core problem and true villain of this entire series is Little Jane and the badly constructed storyline, that relies almost entirely on him being a dense pillock, and employs rubbish soap opera tropes that were outdated and parodied already 30 years ago.
Little Jane is quite frankly the most annoying main character I've come across in a long time. His decisions and actions are always poorly thought out, with no substance behind them whatsoever. LJ practically leaves BJ the second he hears a rumor about him. He hardly ever tries to talk to him (or tries but doesn't have the backbone to really confront BJ) and the only one he ever spoke to, clearly and reasonably, was Dan, when he dumped him, oddly enough.
LJ seems like the authors fever dream self insert: the pretty, cute and innocent boy next door, who can be with you today and leave you tomorrow, without ever facing the negative consequences of his actions, blissfully oblivious, because don't worry, the hot guy will ALWAYS fight for you, no matter how many times you hurt him, and he will never want anything back from you because you're the pure and adorable dream boy.
The actor himself is super cute, but I'm not sure this role lets him unfold his potential.
The Statue
Glad they've remembered to add comic relief. Matches LJs character more than his looks.
Big Jane
The thing that mostly makes BJ look like an idiot, is that he let's LJ leave without protest, then still runs after him every goddamn time, although LJ CLEARLY doesn't want BJ and leaves him the second he gets a chance to misunderstand him. It makes you feel sorry for BJ so much that it hurts, although his own behavior wasn't all that good occasionally.
I couldn't figure out why BJ loves LJ in any way or form. LJ is bringing absolutely nothing to the table. He does not stand up for BJ one single time. Which in turn makes BJs advances even more comical.
But then again they never really explore or explain the source of either characters' love OR fear, despite all the potential, a lot of which lies in the greyscale of BJs behavior. It's beyond me why people are so set on them being together. If they weren't the main leads, you wouldn't get the idea they should be together in the first place.
For all that it's worth, the actor is doing a pretty solid job.
The Aliexpress lockets
Another thing that bugs me about BJ though is the stupid cheap a** lockets with the tack glued in, in which he collects blood. With zero supernatural element to this series, what is the point of these? Why does he keep them like sacred objects? Aren't a lot of them just from a**holes who tried to take advantage of his services? And does he make them himself? Like, with a tube of E6000 and a packet of tacks, while watching TV? If I were to ask him a favor and he pushed this over the desk I'd die from laughter. It's absolutely silly. Too bad the series isn't a parody on purpose.
Story
As for the story, there is a limit of how many times you can watch the train derail, in only 12 episodes, before it winds you up.
Rachel and Ross at least had 10 seasons.
The MCs were separated so many times for the dumbest reasons, I've lost count. They just cannot leave well enough alone for one single episode. The relationship revolving door (another soap opera staple, by the way) is moving too much and too fast. So much so, it even undermines the credibility of the happy ending. For all the times they f*cked up their relationship already, who guarantees they're not divorcing in 5 minutes, because someones cousins stepsisters best friends' colleague said BJ is still gluing tacks to Aliexpress lockets? Or some other of BJs demons from the past has a spare truck?
Every hot, cute or happy moment gets chopped immediately. It feels like they've unearthed every possible undead soap opera misfortune trope, along with every possible idiot ball, and herded them into the meeting room in which the writers were forced to conjure up this show on a Wednesday afternoon. Things are going well for 5 minutes? Oh no wait, let's have disaster strike immediately. No, don't worry if it's in the last half of the last episode, after everything seems settled and nice. Just shove it in wherever. The MCs could call the cops or at least inform someone what's going on, one of them being mister almighty powerful wish fulfilling quasi mafia CEO? Nah, let's have them rescue a child from a psycho, alone, with no support, no backup plan, no appropriate gear, no idea what's going on, but alas, in their Sundays best and a hyper car.
The tropes and plot points employed are only there for their own sake, they hardly ever serve any actual storytelling purpose. They're building up expectation and suspense, only to be gone and forgotten minutes later. Take Puts death as an example: it's not happening because it has a deeper meaning to the plot. All it does is serve as a quick and dirty catalyst for LJ and BJ breaking up. Alas, they still spend the night together, although LJ is set on BJ having killed his best friend. It's so exhausting and preposterous.
I've seen people argue there's tension all along the series, but I wouldn't call it that. Tension implies a mutual desire that's being held back only to passionately erupt at some point. What we are being served here is one sided desire (BJ), a soulless bipolar (LJ) and the "passionate eruption" comes in the form of "break up". It's not tension, it is frustration that keeps people on the edge of their seats.
The Amnesia
This crap really gets it's own point here because it's the epitome of about everything wrong with this series. I've seen people defend the lazy writers and argue that the amnesia trope is necessary because "random a** pull".
No. No, that trope very much is not necessary to the series or the relationship between the two main characters in any way or form. They could've left it out entirely and it'd make no difference. The villain plotting the accident and LJ getting hurt still would've worked on its own. LJ could've remembered the good times entirely on his own for once and Dan could still have got a punch in the face. The sole purpose the amnesia serves, is to create a cheap episode, wind people up, reset the entire story (again) and take a detour to the ending (again). Effectively they've employed the trope to turn episode 11 into a recap.
This isn't even my personal taste at this point. It is simply what the makers of this series actually provide. They provide nonsensical characters (mostly Little Jane), that resonate with the nonsensical story. It's a vicious cycle.
And this isn't intentional either, the creators just DON'T care. They think they can get away with being lazy with the story as long as they shove in every trope from whatever checklist they could conjure up from statistics. Or maybe the creators were hoping the poor attention span of people these days would make them oblivious to the repetitive and illogical narrative.
And honestly, it would not have taken too much to fix this story. The series COULD have been good, if only they'd wanted it to be.
Here's what actually would've helped the series and/or relationship:
- A well written, well paced, coherent story and plot that arches over ALL the episodes and doesn't just skip from one episode to the next.
- Well constructed characters that talk and think before taking action.
Yes, I know it's based on a novel and rumor has it the novel is equally bad or even worse than the show. Still doesn't justify they reproduce this in the series.
Quick shout-out to the actors: you guys are cute. I genuinely hope to see you again in a better series that makes sense at least halfway.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand how it gets all the hype and good ratings.
Trailers vs. Actual Series
It starts with trailers that conveyed a completely different vibe than what it ended up being. We were shown an unapologetic black flag demon (not even mentioning the bl**dy library scene...), we got an apologetic red speckled green flag regular dude, who happens to have a dodgy side job.
It'd be too easy if it stopped there, though. How about changing the series' entire tone two more times? From "tragic dark romance" to "generic office romance" to "blunt soap opera". All within 12 episodes.
This I could still have lived with if the actual series wasn't this genuinely unbearable to watch.
The Characters and the Storyline
Dan
Everyone's hating Dan but, as annoying as he may be, that character is actually just a heat sink for the ludicrous plot and Little Jane. He's simply constructed to be this disgusting, so the other characters and story feel less silly. I also fail to see what he did wrong, apart from being annoying, in the first place. In the end, they had to force a crazy and completely out of the blue revenge/kidnapping plot on him to justify his villainy. I feel sorry for the actor, the role is deeply ungrateful (bro himself is doing great acting it, though).
Little Jane
Seriously, the core problem and true villain of this entire series is Little Jane and the badly constructed storyline, that relies almost entirely on him being a dense pillock, and employs rubbish soap opera tropes that were outdated and parodied already 30 years ago.
Little Jane is quite frankly the most annoying main character I've come across in a long time. His decisions and actions are always poorly thought out, with no substance behind them whatsoever. LJ practically leaves BJ the second he hears a rumor about him. He hardly ever tries to talk to him (or tries but doesn't have the backbone to really confront BJ) and the only one he ever spoke to, clearly and reasonably, was Dan, when he dumped him, oddly enough.
LJ seems like the authors fever dream self insert: the pretty, cute and innocent boy next door, who can be with you today and leave you tomorrow, without ever facing the negative consequences of his actions, blissfully oblivious, because don't worry, the hot guy will ALWAYS fight for you, no matter how many times you hurt him, and he will never want anything back from you because you're the pure and adorable dream boy.
The actor himself is super cute, but I'm not sure this role lets him unfold his potential.
The Statue
Glad they've remembered to add comic relief. Matches LJs character more than his looks.
Big Jane
The thing that mostly makes BJ look like an idiot, is that he let's LJ leave without protest, then still runs after him every goddamn time, although LJ CLEARLY doesn't want BJ and leaves him the second he gets a chance to misunderstand him. It makes you feel sorry for BJ so much that it hurts, although his own behavior wasn't all that good occasionally.
I couldn't figure out why BJ loves LJ in any way or form. LJ is bringing absolutely nothing to the table. He does not stand up for BJ one single time. Which in turn makes BJs advances even more comical.
But then again they never really explore or explain the source of either characters' love OR fear, despite all the potential, a lot of which lies in the greyscale of BJs behavior. It's beyond me why people are so set on them being together. If they weren't the main leads, you wouldn't get the idea they should be together in the first place.
For all that it's worth, the actor is doing a pretty solid job.
The Aliexpress lockets
Another thing that bugs me about BJ though is the stupid cheap a** lockets with the tack glued in, in which he collects blood. With zero supernatural element to this series, what is the point of these? Why does he keep them like sacred objects? Aren't a lot of them just from a**holes who tried to take advantage of his services? And does he make them himself? Like, with a tube of E6000 and a packet of tacks, while watching TV? If I were to ask him a favor and he pushed this over the desk I'd die from laughter. It's absolutely silly. Too bad the series isn't a parody on purpose.
Story
As for the story, there is a limit of how many times you can watch the train derail, in only 12 episodes, before it winds you up.
Rachel and Ross at least had 10 seasons.
The MCs were separated so many times for the dumbest reasons, I've lost count. They just cannot leave well enough alone for one single episode. The relationship revolving door (another soap opera staple, by the way) is moving too much and too fast. So much so, it even undermines the credibility of the happy ending. For all the times they f*cked up their relationship already, who guarantees they're not divorcing in 5 minutes, because someones cousins stepsisters best friends' colleague said BJ is still gluing tacks to Aliexpress lockets? Or some other of BJs demons from the past has a spare truck?
Every hot, cute or happy moment gets chopped immediately. It feels like they've unearthed every possible undead soap opera misfortune trope, along with every possible idiot ball, and herded them into the meeting room in which the writers were forced to conjure up this show on a Wednesday afternoon. Things are going well for 5 minutes? Oh no wait, let's have disaster strike immediately. No, don't worry if it's in the last half of the last episode, after everything seems settled and nice. Just shove it in wherever. The MCs could call the cops or at least inform someone what's going on, one of them being mister almighty powerful wish fulfilling quasi mafia CEO? Nah, let's have them rescue a child from a psycho, alone, with no support, no backup plan, no appropriate gear, no idea what's going on, but alas, in their Sundays best and a hyper car.
The tropes and plot points employed are only there for their own sake, they hardly ever serve any actual storytelling purpose. They're building up expectation and suspense, only to be gone and forgotten minutes later. Take Puts death as an example: it's not happening because it has a deeper meaning to the plot. All it does is serve as a quick and dirty catalyst for LJ and BJ breaking up. Alas, they still spend the night together, although LJ is set on BJ having killed his best friend. It's so exhausting and preposterous.
I've seen people argue there's tension all along the series, but I wouldn't call it that. Tension implies a mutual desire that's being held back only to passionately erupt at some point. What we are being served here is one sided desire (BJ), a soulless bipolar (LJ) and the "passionate eruption" comes in the form of "break up". It's not tension, it is frustration that keeps people on the edge of their seats.
The Amnesia
This crap really gets it's own point here because it's the epitome of about everything wrong with this series. I've seen people defend the lazy writers and argue that the amnesia trope is necessary because "random a** pull".
No. No, that trope very much is not necessary to the series or the relationship between the two main characters in any way or form. They could've left it out entirely and it'd make no difference. The villain plotting the accident and LJ getting hurt still would've worked on its own. LJ could've remembered the good times entirely on his own for once and Dan could still have got a punch in the face. The sole purpose the amnesia serves, is to create a cheap episode, wind people up, reset the entire story (again) and take a detour to the ending (again). Effectively they've employed the trope to turn episode 11 into a recap.
This isn't even my personal taste at this point. It is simply what the makers of this series actually provide. They provide nonsensical characters (mostly Little Jane), that resonate with the nonsensical story. It's a vicious cycle.
And this isn't intentional either, the creators just DON'T care. They think they can get away with being lazy with the story as long as they shove in every trope from whatever checklist they could conjure up from statistics. Or maybe the creators were hoping the poor attention span of people these days would make them oblivious to the repetitive and illogical narrative.
And honestly, it would not have taken too much to fix this story. The series COULD have been good, if only they'd wanted it to be.
Here's what actually would've helped the series and/or relationship:
- A well written, well paced, coherent story and plot that arches over ALL the episodes and doesn't just skip from one episode to the next.
- Well constructed characters that talk and think before taking action.
Yes, I know it's based on a novel and rumor has it the novel is equally bad or even worse than the show. Still doesn't justify they reproduce this in the series.
Quick shout-out to the actors: you guys are cute. I genuinely hope to see you again in a better series that makes sense at least halfway.
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