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BeepingMoon

United Kingdom

BeepingMoon

United Kingdom
Completed
Lovely Writer
56 people found this review helpful
May 13, 2021
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 4
Overall 7.5
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 5.0
This review may contain spoilers

The idea is better than the execution

This series is a hot mess, to be honest. I was looking forward to it for a while before it aired. I like the cast in other things and I really was excited to see a bit more frankness and reflection on the toxic aspects of the BL industry. I have been watching BL dramas intermittently for years and I really hate the romanticisation of assault and rape as well as toxic fan behaviour in response to fan service. I so wanted this to be an intelligent exploration of the importance of respecting boundaries and consent both on- and off-screen and how taking fan service seriously can really objectify the actors in a way that hurts. This series sort of gets a third of the way there I think.

The plot is a bit messy and fragmented at times. The focus is generally on the lead couple and their relationship. However, their relationship evolves at an odd pace. Nubsib being in love from the beginning was kind of annoying to me, I prefer a bit more evolution personally. Although the first scene with them both is genuinely well-performed. Gene seemed to be attracted but unsure and that never fully went away or evolved into something more secure. Consent was really well-explored with them and a constant communication in their relationship which is rare in BL and I really did like. But, to be very frank, there was often little else to their relationship. There was mutual attraction and respect, but minimal evolution and growth. Although the child actors performances were genuinely excellent, the history of the characters and their shared childhood is an overused trope and was executed poorly, in a very ‘info dump’ kind of way.

The acting was inconsistent and I think some of that is about the script itself. The script had minimal meaningful dialogue and the character development is poor. There were several times where Nubsib is asking Gene to listen to him and then proceeds to say nothing. It’s stupid and impossible to act properly. The dialogue was not character-driven and was often more about saying something about the industry which made it feel fake and preachy, rather than raw and relevant/human.

The villain of the story should have been the industry with toxic production staff being controlling and manipulative for money and fans crossing the line over and over, hurting their faves in the process. We do have some of that, particularly towards the end. However, there is also Aoey, who is clearly unwell and is extremely toxic. His character is necessary, his characterisation is not. It feels like cowardice to create a villain out of him because it means fans can see his character and call him the villain, rather than see the villainy of the fans in the series and reflect on themselves and their fandoms. There are too many villains. It dilutes the message of the toxicity in the industry and is a much weaker plot device that is overused throughout the story and makes it unnecessarily melodramatic.

The sound design and soundtrack was often irritating and distracting. There are times when sound effects and music are not only unnecessary but also damaging to the scene. If it adds nothing to the tone or mood, or if it distracts from the tone or mood intended, don’t use it. Loads of post-production sound and music does not make a bad story, script or scene better, it can only do that to a good scene, it can always make it worse.

This series really is variable. The final episode is really good. But a lot of it is unnecessary, draggy or distracting.

If you watch BLs it is definitely worth a watch, there are enjoyable parts and it is somewhat educational. You might skip or speed through parts, to be honest, but I still think it has some valuable stuff to say, even if it could have been said better from a storytelling point-of-view. However, if you don’t I think you could safely give this a miss.

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Ongoing 10/12
Paint with Love
38 people found this review helpful
Jan 30, 2022
10 of 12 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 6.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers

Everything Feels So Unearned

The way I would describe this drama in two words is 'wasted opportunity'. It could have been good. A simple premise. Good actors. But it fell apart before it could get off the ground. The writing is a big, big problem.

So, I went into this drama for Singto (fickle I know, but I feel like most people did so there ya go). The trailer looked promising. The premise was simple, light-hearted and sweet. I love art and draw and paint a lot myself so I also thought I'd enjoy some of the art side of things too.

But, writing, writing, writing. *shakes head like stereotypical disappointed parent* (am childless tho...)

The writing of the characters and the plot is a big problem. It's so poor that I'm actually not sure where to begin.

Let's start with Maze. Who is he? As in what are his external motivations? Money, just money it seems. That's fine. What are his internal motivations? I haven't got a clue. Like at all. What is his backstory? Dunno. He has this step-brother who he argued with once upon a time and never resolved the conflict with (for literal years, like huh?). That's it. What are his dreams? His fears? What does he love? Hate? What makes him feel comfortable? Uncomfortable? Safe? Lonely? Bored? In this script he is a one-dimensional boss who wants money, money and more money. He is not at all fleshed out and his whole character changes in the blink of an eye without any development or substance of character.

What about Phab? If you look at the comments on here everyone loves Phab and loathes Maze for the most part. I dislike both. Phab is as much a walking one-dimensional stereotype as Maze, it's just his stereotype is more likable. Phab is an artist. In spite of being enormously broke he can still afford expensive art equipment and a nice place to live. He can afford food and other necessities for himself and his various pets. He also, simply out of a bit of a dislike, tries to refuse well-paid work when offered. Bruh, come on now. Don't be stupid. I really dislike this stereotype of artists and other creatives that they just don't care about having enough money to live (and somehow get by happily and comfortably). Being broke and being in debt is f*cking stressful. It's not a personality trait. Who is Phab? What are his external and internal motivations? He needs to earn a bit of money (although he seems mostly chill about this). That's it. That's all. What is his backstory? Who knows, maybe he is from the moon. His fears? Dreams? What makes him feel happy? Sad? Disgusted? Lonely? Bored? Who is he?

All of the other characters are not at all fleshed out enough either, but I can't be bothered to list it all here. Most are more consistent in personality than the two leads however.

Each episode of this series is predictable and unsatisfying. It is the same arc each time. Phab and Maze are in conflict over something (usually a small misunderstanding or miscommunication). At some point near the middle they are on good terms (usually unprovoked, they just are, for some reason), either sweet romantic moments or some sort of friendly situation. Then a short while before the end of the episode there is another conflict (usually a small misunderstanding or miscommunication), this then carries through into the next episode where the cycle repeats. There are a few episodes that stray from this but not many. It is a tedious viewing experience as the arc is incredibly unsatisfying.

I have just finished watching episode 10. I cannot afford a GagaOOLala subscription right now and am cancelling so I'm reviewing as I take a financial pause from GagaOOLala. Please bear in mind I'm writing this before the ultimate conclusion of the story.

Let me rewrite the overarching plot for the two leads to make the series better (according to myself).

The series begins with the first episode largely as it happens. But you see Phab has a part-time job at university teaching an evening class for art students. With this he can pay for art equipment (like I said, it's expensive, stop sh*tting around) but it doesn't support his living. Maze comes to meet Phab and offer him the work. Phab declines. Maze leaves, annoyed. A while later Phab comes across a stray animal who is injured. He takes it to the vet. The vet treats the animal and tells Phab he needs to pay for it. Phab hesitates but calls Maze. He says he'll do the wedding job if Maze pays for the animal's treatment (and the original amount). They negotiate and come to some fair amount. At the wedding Phab brings the animal. It causes havok and Maze and Phab have a similar argument to the one seen. Phab gets the job with the pay from the series and starts working at the company to pay Maze back and keep up the ruse.

As time goes on Maze and Phab bicker but we see Phab trying to work well with everyone (like in the series now) and Maze's work ethic. At some point Maze and Phab argue about the work. Phab isn't being serious enough, according to Maze. Maze is unforgiving and brutal, according to Phab. Towards the end of this argument Maze falls ill (fainting or getting dizzy or whatever) from overworking. Phab stays with him and insists he rest. Maze insists he has to work. They argue. Eventually Phab leaves but calls the VP character to stay with Maze at the office. There follows scenes/montage where Maze is overworking and Phab is noticing. Phab asks around but everyone says this is just Maze's way. After a bit of professional success the team go for drinks (like in the series). While a bit tipsy Maze gets annoyed with Phab and complains about his way of working. He then starts to talk about his own backstory. He is from a family that struggled financially. He had some sort of issue that made his parents' financial struggle worse (illness, injury whatever). He blames himself for this and feels that he caused their early passing with the stress it put them under. He is now used to overworking because he distracts himself with work and it makes him feel like he is repaying his parents or becoming more like them and their hardwork or something along those lines. He also keeps his distance from others because he's afraid of burdening them. He doesn't like when people don't work hard because it feels like an affront to his most important values. He feels personally disrespected.

Phab still draws Maze (this is still the small conflict from the series cause it was entertaining to me).

Following this information Phab becomes more considerate of Maze. He starts to bring him a nice drink at the office on occasion and pays attention to his schedule. He takes the job more seriously and becomes a bit more mature in the workplace. In an effort to encourage Maze to stop working so much Phab encourages Maze to come and spend time with the animal they both saved (and invites him to his art class in the evening). They bond over this and talk about work and their personal goals/fears/pasts etc while together. Maze talks a little more about his family and Phab begins to open up about his. Phab doesn't know his parents but he grew up financially secure and stable raised by an aunt and his grandparents. He is still close to his aunt, but lies a little about being financially fine so she doesn't worry. His grandfather died a while ago and his grandmother is ill. Money he inherited from his grandfather he spends on his grandmother's health. He learned to draw growing up in order to give comfort to his grandfather, who had dementia and would tell stories and forget them soon after. He drew them so that there would always be images of his grandfather's memory, even outside of his mind.

They connect over these memories and feelings for family. Both begin to feel romantically for the other, but Phab is more expressive and open, whereas Maze is wary and reserved. Eventually they sleep together and begin dating. Phab is open, Maze is discreet. This begins slowly to cause a little conflict.

Phab starts to feel like Maze is pushing him away. He tries to talk to him but Maze freaks out and closes off. They argue and stop speaking for a while. When Maze decides to apologise he overhears the job offer for Japan. His immediate feeling is one of fear and he tries to stop it from happening. As they forgive each other from the previous argument and Maze and Phab begin openly dating etc Phab then takes Maze to meet his aunt and grandmother. Here they learn of Japan and are encouraging. Phab is hesitant and reluctant cause of Maze. Maze realises how much of an opportunity this is and starts to encourage Phab to go.

They then do long-distance for an epsiode or so. In the ending they reunite in Thailand a while later. Phab has an exhibition on in Thailand and has got work in Japan designing posters and covers etc which he can do from Thailand.

Maze has learned to have a work-life balance. Phab has learned some maturity and adulting lessons.

In my version Nueng would be a childhood friend of Maze's. They still had the same argument cause Maze was overly dependent of, and possessive over, Nueng. It was around the time his parents died and Maze felt abandoned by Nueng. He later regretted the argument but didn't apologise because it was too connected to those horrible memories, so he buried it and remained estranged from his closest friend for years. Although he accepted he was in the wrong, he was also always hurt that Nueng never reached out afterwards either. There is no jealousy plotline with Nueng at the centre. Conflict with him is work-related and whatnot. His relationship with Than evolves similarly to the series just with fewer bs games. He doesn't try and manipulate Phab and is always polite to him.

This series needed fleshed out characters, with room for development, which is satisfied through the story. Just because it is a light-hearted premise and story does not mean your characters get to be superficial in their characterisations, all one dimensional and whatnot.

There are so many individual scenes I love. Any sweet scenes between Phab and Maze are great. The bickering, especially at the beginning, was entertaining a lot of the time. I really like the side characters. I like a lot of the humour (which is rare). But there is no narrative to this series really. It doesn't flow. The pacing is tedious. It is often like you're missing all of the information for the character motivations. It's annoying. This could have been such a nice, enjoyable watch. I enjoyed scenes, not episodes, not the whole series. I enjoyed the scenes as independent experiences. So it wasn't all bad, but it is a sign of a somewhat incoherent story/plot. They should be trying to tell us a story, led by characters. Instead they show us scenes with the characters on puppet strings just doing as they're told with no motivation or substance to them at all.

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Completed
Fish Upon the Sky
76 people found this review helpful
Jun 25, 2021
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 6
Overall 4.5
Story 4.0
Acting/Cast 4.5
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

It simply doesn't make a lot of sense

My rating might be a bit harsh but this was honestly difficult for me to sit through. I watched A Tale of a Thousand Stars when it aired and got used to curling up on a Friday evening and just enjoying the episodes as they aired each week. To be honest my entire reason for watching this series, along with the fact that I liked the trailer, was that its airtime was the same and, although I doubted I would enjoy it as much as AToaTS, I kind of wanted to keep the routine.

But, well, it was a struggle.

Let's start with the story. It's not good. At first I liked the story of an insecure, unpopular kid who doesn't trust easily being liked by a popular guy who also happens to be his crush's best friend. I liked that there wasn't a love triangle but Pi believed there was. I really did like the set-up of Mork liking Pi when Pi didn't like himself and assumed this was a universal reality, no one would ever like him. But why does Mork like Pi? Like why? I enjoyed their online friendship for a while until I realised that Pi is just depending on Mork, it is not two-sided. Ultimately throughout the whole series Pi is never there for Mork really and Mork is constantly there for Pi. It is an unequal relationship, not because of appearance or popularity, but because Mork is in love with an insecure and (more to the point) extremely selfish character. It doesn't make sense. Everything in their development happens suddenly and coincidentally. There is no evolution, neither character comes to realisations about themselves or each other that would make their relationship reasonable. Mork never shows any vulnerability to Pi, Pi shows too much and relies too heavily on Mork without good reason. It is not a believable relationship progression and their attraction is not developed in the script. Why? Do? They? Like? Each? Other? It does not make sense.

As for the second-lead couple the progression was better. They grew on each other and it made sense that they were getting to know each other and were feeling attraction or crushes or whatever. But god it was juevenile. It was trying so hard to be funny with them, especially Duean. I don't know if this is just a cultural difference but I have seen a lot of Thai content and while some of the humour goes over my head sometimes this is just a lot to take. Although the majority of the age demographic of BL fans may be young, the character himself was in his twenties and he was behaving like a pre-teen which was so annoying. The characters themselves matched okay I guess, I have some complaints but whatever. But it was so juevenile which did get seriously irritating.

The acting was variable. Because I didn't like most of the script I will say the acting may have been better with a better script but here we go. Pond (Mork) and Louis (Meen) had believable acting. Their acting was fine. They did a good enough job with characters that were written to be pretty one dimensional. Phuwin (Pi) is not made for acting insecure in my opinion tbh. He kept overacting the insecurities and shyness. Now, I am a naturally shy person and was incredibly insecure as a teen so there was some relatability for me honestly. But when you are shy and insecure, you hide. You try to take up as little space as possible. He sort of had the shy persona down sometimes but other times it was just overdone. I could tell he was acting. And in some intimate scenes between Mork and Pi both actors were awkward which added to the already mediocre script in terms of being unbelievable. As for Neo (Duean) it was overacting 101. I don't know if this was due to his acting, the script, the directing or whatever but it was too much. Just way too much. It was a character you would never meet in real life. So yeah.

I don't love that a makeover happened, but I do like the fact that Mork liked Pi before. Wasn't like he had some dumb realisation later or anything.

I wish I enjoyed this. It really could have been good. But it was too nonsensical to be funny and too soulless to be romantic. The characters were largely too one dimensional to be believable and everything fell apart after that really. The plot wasn't character driven it just sort of happened because someone said it should, which is not good writing.

One other (relatively small) pet peeve is the fact that three brothers from one family are all gay. Like, why? C'mon now people. Not saying it's impossible but it's just a little hard to believe. Especially when added to the fact that the two younger brothers both have love interests who are themselves brothers with each other. Okay, whatever.

The fans were annoying and overacted. They were not funny. They were toxic but there was no analysis of why they are being toxic and there was no arc where that behaviour changes (which it should and would have been satisfying to watch).

At the end of the day I would not recommend this series to be very frank. There are far better series out there. This one is an acceptable idea with poor execution.

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Completed
SOTUS
9 people found this review helpful
Feb 14, 2021
15 of 15 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 5.5
Story 4.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers

Mmmmkay, it's overrated.

(This is my first review.)

Okay so, to be honest, my opinion of this show is largely about the framing of the Sotus system. The sotus system is abusive in this show and the presentation of it as some sort of courting ritual for Kongpob and Arthit is kinda disturbing to me. The tone and the content are so at odds they are almost mutually exclusive from one another. Sotus is a system that exists in real-life in Thailand and hazing/initiation rituals exist in many other places. People die and suffer serious physical and psychological trauma each year due to this system in Thailand. This only makes this series more disturbing to be quite frank. There is a short film (not a BL) made in Thailand which tackles the sotus system (it is against it). The tone of the film and the content match far better and it is honestly a far more rational presentation of a system in which power can so easily be abused. Here is the link if anyone is interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NgYr6GqofM

Now, with that out of the way let's talk about things other than the plot.

The acting is fine. I have seen many of the actors in other things since this and their acting is better. So, it's okay but it often could be better and I've seen better acting from them since then.

The chemistry is mediocre at best in my opinion. This is something a lot of fans love about ArthitKongpob as a couple, but honestly their chemistry felt very platonic the whole way through to me. I never bought into the romantic or sexual attraction between them. This is not because of the minimal PDA, it just didn't feel like they were attracted to each other to me.

The music itself is okay. Sometimes it felt unnecessary and frequently it was too loud.

The series does have a somewhat nostalgic feel, so for people who love the series I can understand the re-watch value is probably high.

When the sotus system was not the centre of the scene I generally enjoyed it. (I have seen Sotus S and the Our Skyy special and preferred them a lot more, especially Our Skyy.) Hazing is personally something I hate. I have been close enough to it in real-life to have a visceral reaction to seeing it (especially in the romantic way it is presented here). But there are scenes that are well made. The scene in Arthit's apartment was sweet and the phonecall/almost confession scene was my favourite performance throughout. But yeah, it felt like propaganda for a controversial system more often than it felt like a story of love between people.

Of course, many people love it so I'm probably missing something. I actually would recommend the sequel and Our Skyy special. The main relationship and friendships are far more equal and easy to feel comfortable about for me.

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Completed
Bad Buddy
6 people found this review helpful
Jan 23, 2022
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 10
This review may contain spoilers

This was a delight

Would I recommend this drama? Yes. In fact I think there is almost no one to whom I would not recommend this drama to. So prepare for a glowing review followed by one or two (possibly unpopular) pet peeves.

The story sets us up for a lot of entertainment and comedy. The chemistry between the two leads is undeniable. It's extremely good when they have emotional and/or intimate moments. The kiss in episode 5 was just one of the few on-screen kisses I have ever seen and loved. It's generally not what I go in for but it felt so f*cking real. So, you know, round of applause and all that jazz. They were also entertaining together and with the supporting cast. The humour was well-balanced with some of the more serious moments. I also loved that the comedy from different characters revealed their unique traits and personalities just as much as the hard-hitting moments.

The acting. Ah, the acting. Literally just sat at my keyboard wondering how to describe how excellent the acting is. Magnificent. Just amazing. Loved it. All synonyms to the word 'love' should be applied when talking about the acting in this series. I don't have complaints or issues with any of the acting but the two leads were particularly amazing.

The GL pairing was a-f*cking-dorable. Loved it. Relished it. Both of them did a great job and their acting throughout was also excellent.

The pacing was excellent. I wasn't skipping scenes. I didn't get bored. All of the relationships evolved at a believable pace. Loved it.

The cinematography was great (you can never go wrong with P'Aof and his usual team when it comes to production and cinematography). It was great. Visually just genuinely good.

Now for my two pet peeves...(sorry)

Number one. The set-up. The parents were so petty and immature. I just found it too melodramatic. I know it provides some comedy and plenty of conflict but it just got a bit too much for me sometimes. Their personality differences (of the leads I mean) could have been enough for a lot of the conflict and the humour. The parents bothered me the whole time. So yeah, just personally wish that had been dialed back a bit.

Number two. (A bit of a contradiction of an earlier comment...) The ending. So, as I said, I generally loved the pacing of the entire series. It was so well done, which is super rare. However, the final episode ruined that streak for me a little bit. I do not like time jumps and the misdirect that they had broken up was so obvious it just annoyed me that we were having all this fake tension the whole time. 4 years is a long time. There doesn't seem to be much point to it in my opinion either. I also don't like that 4 years is meant to be how long it took for the parents to reluctantly accept their relationship (like, grow up, move on 'kay!). It was a happy ending which is great but it just felt a little more fragmented after the smooth pacing of the previous 11 episodes so, you, know, I would have prefered more consistency with the time line of the series as a whole.

If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favour and go watch it. You deserve it. ;)

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Ongoing 7/14
Not Me
6 people found this review helpful
Jan 23, 2022
7 of 14 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 5.0

Just watch it

I will do a proper review when this is over. But I'm recommending it entirely right now (as of episode 6).

Pacing? Excellent. Acting? Superb. Cinematography? Perfect. Story? Captivating.

Seriously, watch it. It's just so good.

I'm just gushing about it in my head so much. It's too good. It's a bit heavy topic wise but it is pretty much the only BL that actually explores important issues at all. I hope they delve deeper cause it's still a bit surface level and strawman-like but it's doing a great job with what it has so far. And the plot itself is genuinely exciting and makes my toes curl with the tension every week. I wonder how much this might get close to the real events of the protests in Thailand.

You can see so much work must have gone into it and so far it's paid off with the work they've produced. Really hope the quality sticks until the end. I'm so curious about what will happen that the story pops into my head randomly at different times during the week, in the best way of course. ;)

(btw this is coming from someone who has not especially enjoyed OffGun's previous work when they are paired. So I'm not a shipper who might be a bit biased (no shade if you are of course), in fact I kind of went in with a lot of doubts. So happy to have been proven wrong. ;))

PS rewatch rating is neutral cause it's not finished.

Edit as of episode 7: No longer surface level or strawman like. This series is excellent. Complex and well-paced with great characters. I am just in love with it all.

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Completed
Run On
1 people found this review helpful
Apr 5, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 9.0

Just...sigh...perfect

Beautifully written and performed. Light-hearted and strangely thought-provoking gem.

So I watched this when it aired. I have SAD which was especially bad this year with lockdown and crap. This series generally lifted my mood each week so I have some bias in that sense. But if you are struggling with stuff or feel down I would seriously recommend this series, it's both light and intelligent. It's just exquisite.

There is not loads of plot (some, enough to keep it going, but not loads). It is not fast-paced or filled with action. It's almost slice-of-life like.

The characters felt like people in my life when I was finished.

The writing is genuinely wonderful. (And is beautifully translated in the subtitles too.) There are snippets of wisdom in the words of the characters that play off really well in the witty, amusing and sometimes emotional dialogue. I honestly would recommend it for the writing alone. Which I rarely say as I'm picky when it comes to writing.

The acting is also excellent. Legitimately no complaints whatsoever. They were all perfect for their roles.

I fell in love, felt frustrated, annoyed, laughed, cried with the characters. In the simplicity of the story and the gorgeous writing the actors really brought the characters to life. They really lived up to the writing (which is saying something). I mean they've all been great actors before but the chemistry between them worked well too.

This series was gold to me when I watched it.

There is one other thing this series does which is pertinent to international fans of dramas and films when they don't speak the language. This series truly has moments of being a love letter to translators and subtitlers. I love that side of it too.

I recommend it so much. I don't know if it would work as a binge drama as it is there to be savoured (in my experience). But I love it.

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Dropped 11/16
Doom at Your Service
6 people found this review helpful
Jun 25, 2021
11 of 16 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 7.5
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 5.0
This review may contain spoilers

The writer does not understand their own premise

Okay so...

Acting? Excellent. As to be expected from this cast to be real, but the acting is great. The chemistry for the characters (romantic, frienship and filial) is pretty good. The music is generally good (let us take a moment to bask in the glory of Ailee...okay cool). Production quality? Good.

But the story. Well, uhm, it's just a romantic drama with most of the tropes (many of which are just so overused anyway). Why do the leads like each other? Why? One is dying and has had a fairly miserable life. The other is Doom. Like actual Doom. A personification of Doom. Why is Doom a human? Why does Doom have human emotions? How is that a thing? What is going on with that? Doom is basically a lonely human man with powers. If Doom really existed in this form it wouldn't be a human that could easily fall in love with a human and was just lonely all the time. Doom is the reason she lost her parents, the reason she is dying, the reason for many of the crappy things in her life. It is understandable that there is balance to be upheld and all but the balance isn't Doom alone. God exists in this world. Also there should be many other personifications of other positive and negative experiences and emotions. Just God and Doom does not make any sense to maintain the whole balance of the world.

It's a creative idea. But the imagination and creativity begins and ends with the idea. There is no believable character development and the relationship development is not reasonable. I do not believe the writer truly sat and considered the questions her characters, especially the lead two, would truly grapple with.

Imagine you found out you had 100 days from today to live. Just 100 days. What would you do? Spend time with loved ones? Go on a trip? Write? Read? Watch films? Create a bucket list and tick things off? Would you try to make sure your loved ones are in the best position they could be? Or would you flirt with Doom itself, the supernatural being that is literally responsible for every piece of suffering in your entire life and the lives of those around you, a being that does not care if you live or die or whether you suffer? Just continue to go to work? Fail to tell the people in your life so they go on ignorant until you simply drop dead? Would you continue to love Doom as he runs away and comes back after you eventually suffer excrutiating pain? Multiple times.

There are so many things that do not work in the execution of this premise. The main thing is that Doom is Doom. Doom is not balance or whatever. He's Doom. Why does he care about suffering? Why does he care about pain? Why does he fall in love? The FL is nothing special, especially to a being that has existed for ages and maintains negative, painful, horrible things in the world for the sake of a balance is part of but not solely reponsible for. The writer created the character of Doom and then just manufactured the usual romantic tropes and had the character fall into those rather than truly considering what it would mean to have a personification of Doom. They also have not, in my opinion, fully explored what it would mean to have a perpetual countdown to your death when you know exactly how close it is to zero. Grappling with your mortality is no small thing and forces you to confront what is important. There is no impulsive or bizarre behaviour to show the FL going through an existential crisis of sorts, nor is there any consideration of how to prepare herself and those she loves, nor any sort of desire to do anything she enjoys or is curious about. There's nothing. This crisis, which should be an earth-shattering event, propelling the story into full motion feels like an after-thought constantly. The main point is the two leads are in love, in spite of that not being credible given the premise, and we should sit down and enjoy the love story.

It had such a rich, juicy premise. It has great actors. The production quality is excellent. The music is lovely and blends in beautifully with the emotions in the scenes. But this series is as if someone has put all the ingredients to a delicious recipe in one bowl and left it hoping it would cook itself. The writing is not solid enough to hold this story together. The writer does not have a good enough understanding of how to execute their own creative, imaginative idea. It's a shame.

For now I have dropped it but I will probably finish it after everything airs and I can just go through and see what happened. Let me know if I should. Thanks :)

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