BL Veteran votes this as A+ Disappointment
This story isn't the Until We Meet Again parallel story that we were hoping for and anticipating. For one, Win and Team (especially Team) feel like completely different characters. And not just between UWMA and this drama, but even within this singular drama, they weren't consistent. They don't feel like the same couple.
I'd even go as far as saying that they weren't WinTeam at all, but rather DeanPharm 2.0. All of the same points that people complained about UWMA are here in spades, just without the reincarnation plot. Trauma and nightmares. Enough crying scenes to desensitize you and make you cringe. Even Team's constant "Hia" can rival Pharm's "P." Anybody got a count going?
But the thing is, I loved UWMA. This drama didn't have its charm. For one, I know very well that this cast can act their butts off. But I didn't consistently feel that here. And Team's whining and crying started getting on my nerves, rather than move me. The music was poorly chosen, even the bgm, and was so mismatched that it came off jarring at several occasions. The main story went around in so many circles. And there were way way too many side couples and support characters that were irrelevant to the main story. It made Win and Team feel like support characters in their own drama.
In the beginning, it felt like you would need UWMA to understand this drama, due to the flashbacks. And while Dean and Pharm stayed continuously as a sloppy afterthought, you actually don't need UWMA. In fact, DO NOT WATCH UWMA. They deviated with this couple in several ways. Not even just character traits and expression (which we saw with my baby Manaow as well), but even scenes. Several scenes were different. And skipped. No matter how important they were to the WinTeam story.
Don't get me wrong, it was a good story. But terrible writing. It was like they had too little material/ideas for the number of episodes they had. So they just started throwing everything in and stopped caring about finessing what they had. They seemed to hope that Boun and Prem (the main actors) would carry the drama regardless of the story. Or maybe even hoping that they could sell these newer Wabi Sabi actors that made up the support cast through them. Think Love By Chance (one of this director's earlier works) and you've got a pretty good sense of the style this story wound up taking.
◼ I liked Prince and Bee as a couple and their overall storyline/message, but it should have been in another drama. It didn't fit here.
◼ I expected to see Manaow and Preuk here. Manaow is part of Team's friend group. But they were another afterthought. That, again, didn't feel consistent with UWMA.
◼ Tul and Waan were the saving grace of this drama. Very cute. Quite relevant. And with a relatively refreshing dynamic.
◼ The ABC Gang/Idiot trio shouldn't have been included. They were a waste of time. Not to mention how terrible A and Sea were to their friend Bee and it never got called out.
◼ Dean and Pharm were so poorly incorporated that they might as well not have been there at all.
◼ Win and Team dragged and went around and circles, meanwhile everyone else felt rushed. And everyone felt poorly-thought out.
Might be a good beginner BL. But as someone who has seen a ton of Thai BL dramas, even from this same director and cast, it was a giant disappointment.
Edit: Ultimately, the problem was that this drama didn't deliver on its promises to viewers. There wasn't anything problematic about the story, so I have raised my initial score after some reconsideration.
I'd even go as far as saying that they weren't WinTeam at all, but rather DeanPharm 2.0. All of the same points that people complained about UWMA are here in spades, just without the reincarnation plot. Trauma and nightmares. Enough crying scenes to desensitize you and make you cringe. Even Team's constant "Hia" can rival Pharm's "P." Anybody got a count going?
But the thing is, I loved UWMA. This drama didn't have its charm. For one, I know very well that this cast can act their butts off. But I didn't consistently feel that here. And Team's whining and crying started getting on my nerves, rather than move me. The music was poorly chosen, even the bgm, and was so mismatched that it came off jarring at several occasions. The main story went around in so many circles. And there were way way too many side couples and support characters that were irrelevant to the main story. It made Win and Team feel like support characters in their own drama.
In the beginning, it felt like you would need UWMA to understand this drama, due to the flashbacks. And while Dean and Pharm stayed continuously as a sloppy afterthought, you actually don't need UWMA. In fact, DO NOT WATCH UWMA. They deviated with this couple in several ways. Not even just character traits and expression (which we saw with my baby Manaow as well), but even scenes. Several scenes were different. And skipped. No matter how important they were to the WinTeam story.
Don't get me wrong, it was a good story. But terrible writing. It was like they had too little material/ideas for the number of episodes they had. So they just started throwing everything in and stopped caring about finessing what they had. They seemed to hope that Boun and Prem (the main actors) would carry the drama regardless of the story. Or maybe even hoping that they could sell these newer Wabi Sabi actors that made up the support cast through them. Think Love By Chance (one of this director's earlier works) and you've got a pretty good sense of the style this story wound up taking.
◼ I liked Prince and Bee as a couple and their overall storyline/message, but it should have been in another drama. It didn't fit here.
◼ I expected to see Manaow and Preuk here. Manaow is part of Team's friend group. But they were another afterthought. That, again, didn't feel consistent with UWMA.
◼ Tul and Waan were the saving grace of this drama. Very cute. Quite relevant. And with a relatively refreshing dynamic.
◼ The ABC Gang/Idiot trio shouldn't have been included. They were a waste of time. Not to mention how terrible A and Sea were to their friend Bee and it never got called out.
◼ Dean and Pharm were so poorly incorporated that they might as well not have been there at all.
◼ Win and Team dragged and went around and circles, meanwhile everyone else felt rushed. And everyone felt poorly-thought out.
Might be a good beginner BL. But as someone who has seen a ton of Thai BL dramas, even from this same director and cast, it was a giant disappointment.
Edit: Ultimately, the problem was that this drama didn't deliver on its promises to viewers. There wasn't anything problematic about the story, so I have raised my initial score after some reconsideration.
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