This review may contain spoilers
Ugh, I have so many mixed feelings about this show. Where it really excelled in some arenas it royally dropped the ball in others. Honestly, I wish this were a parody then I could laugh and give it a 10/10. I'll start with the things that I enjoyed.
I have been a fan of Saint's since LBC and truly he has grown as an actor. I really enjoyed his portrayal of Tutor I'd give him a 8.5/10. I liked Fighter a lot, more than I thought I would based on episode 1. Zee is really a very talented actor. I thought their chemistry was incredible and overall enjoyed them as a couple although I hated how hot and cold Fighter was in the beginning. Tommy did a great job as Zon although I thought from a writing standpoint that his character was so so. I think all the actors did a great job with what they were given. I also really loved Japan, but felt that it was such a terrible waste to include him in the show. The production was out of this world. It was so good that it makes me more than a little upset that the rest of the show did not live up. I had to chuckle because someone said the show seemed like an advert for Thai tourism, and while I needed no persuasion to visit Thai beaches, I can see how it comes across that way. I personally enjoyed the scenery because it's more than I can say about the plot.
Which leads me to where is the plot? Really, look at the show past it's shiny exterior of attractive actors, production, and scenery... the plot does not exist. Rather what we have is a premise (Zol writes a BL that comes to life) and no delivery of any plot. I think Zol only appears once after episode 4 and they only make vague references to being in a BL novel after like episode 6. The writing and direction is where all the problems lie in this series. From episode 1 we are led to believe that Zon will be the main character (so subsequently his pair will be the main pair) but Saifah and Zon's storyline take a HUGE back seat to Tor/Fight. It's hard to have two main couples and give them equal screen time so I really for the life of me cannot understand why they felt the need to have SO MANY tertiary and quatenary couples. At times it didn't even feel like Tor/Fight and Zon/Saifah existed in the same universe. They really felt like 2 completely separate storylines. As I said I thought Tommy did a great job, but Zon's character was poorly written in my opinion. The complete 180 in Zon's character from episode 2 to 3 still has me scratching my head. The enemies to lovers trope is so old and I have never seen it so poorly executed. I feel bad any time I have to bring up the quality of subtitles in shows, it makes me feel ungrateful, but the subtitles in episodes 1-5 were a special kind of terrible. Not to mention that there were entire exchanges without subs at all. I was really dumbfounded I couldn't believe that with a seemingly decent sized budget that was the best they could do for inter fans. I also felt like the directors tried too hard to make this show compete with Tharn/Type. The bed scenes were INTENSE. A little too much for me personally. I'm sad for the way the show was impacted by COVID-19, however, I'm not persuaded that the last 3 episodes would've flowed any better or that the show would have had a better ending otherwise.
There's a lot more I could say, but I don't like my reviews to be crazy long. I'm not saying don't watch it, because it definitely has it's moments, but it really was an underwhelming show in my opinion.
I have been a fan of Saint's since LBC and truly he has grown as an actor. I really enjoyed his portrayal of Tutor I'd give him a 8.5/10. I liked Fighter a lot, more than I thought I would based on episode 1. Zee is really a very talented actor. I thought their chemistry was incredible and overall enjoyed them as a couple although I hated how hot and cold Fighter was in the beginning. Tommy did a great job as Zon although I thought from a writing standpoint that his character was so so. I think all the actors did a great job with what they were given. I also really loved Japan, but felt that it was such a terrible waste to include him in the show. The production was out of this world. It was so good that it makes me more than a little upset that the rest of the show did not live up. I had to chuckle because someone said the show seemed like an advert for Thai tourism, and while I needed no persuasion to visit Thai beaches, I can see how it comes across that way. I personally enjoyed the scenery because it's more than I can say about the plot.
Which leads me to where is the plot? Really, look at the show past it's shiny exterior of attractive actors, production, and scenery... the plot does not exist. Rather what we have is a premise (Zol writes a BL that comes to life) and no delivery of any plot. I think Zol only appears once after episode 4 and they only make vague references to being in a BL novel after like episode 6. The writing and direction is where all the problems lie in this series. From episode 1 we are led to believe that Zon will be the main character (so subsequently his pair will be the main pair) but Saifah and Zon's storyline take a HUGE back seat to Tor/Fight. It's hard to have two main couples and give them equal screen time so I really for the life of me cannot understand why they felt the need to have SO MANY tertiary and quatenary couples. At times it didn't even feel like Tor/Fight and Zon/Saifah existed in the same universe. They really felt like 2 completely separate storylines. As I said I thought Tommy did a great job, but Zon's character was poorly written in my opinion. The complete 180 in Zon's character from episode 2 to 3 still has me scratching my head. The enemies to lovers trope is so old and I have never seen it so poorly executed. I feel bad any time I have to bring up the quality of subtitles in shows, it makes me feel ungrateful, but the subtitles in episodes 1-5 were a special kind of terrible. Not to mention that there were entire exchanges without subs at all. I was really dumbfounded I couldn't believe that with a seemingly decent sized budget that was the best they could do for inter fans. I also felt like the directors tried too hard to make this show compete with Tharn/Type. The bed scenes were INTENSE. A little too much for me personally. I'm sad for the way the show was impacted by COVID-19, however, I'm not persuaded that the last 3 episodes would've flowed any better or that the show would have had a better ending otherwise.
There's a lot more I could say, but I don't like my reviews to be crazy long. I'm not saying don't watch it, because it definitely has it's moments, but it really was an underwhelming show in my opinion.
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