Blkittykat

23.5 + more wasted potential

There's been a lot of talk about 23.5, ever since the pilot teaser was released, and for good reason. But as of this moment, I'm just a bit dissapointed.

It took me a while to actually clear up my thoughts on this and write a review that was cohesive and not spoiler heavy, because despite my disappointment, a lot of the series is worth watching. A cute and fluffy rom - com that looks like it's been engulfed in peach lighting, it truly did have it's wonderful moments. Unfortunately, the bad almost edged out the good for me here.

Let's start with the positives: a positive and playful setting, supportive friends, supportive family (mostly), supportive teachers, a lot of cute moments between all the couples, and some wonderful supporting characters. It doesn't seem like much when banded together, but there were individually quite a few good moments. But this is also where the list of positives end.

With the rosy lens they used to shoot they series, it's almost like they forgot that sensitivity is important when you try to address important and relevant conversations. This is one of the major reasons my rating fell, hard. The (almost) complete disregard of awareness in the storytelling absolutely boggled me, characters not facing any sort of repurcussions for their actions, slightly troubling behaviour from the leads being glassed over to display forgiveness and understanding, writing off a character's genuine worries and fears as her first being weird and then others being mean, this is just part of the bad writing of the characters.
Not that this was helped much by the plot, it was set up in the way that the plot only magnified the problematic stuff that the characters did. From Ongsa manipulating Sun's feelings, to Sun gaslighting Ongsa, I was incredibly frustrated with a lot of the plotlines they had in place. I realise that these are strong words and I don't have a problem when dramas exhibit these behaviours for what they are, what really ticked me off was the fact that they trying to keep passing all this off as minor arguments, and the fact that they tried to convince us that all was perfect and healthy, when it wasn't.

As I write this, I can say I have no problems with plots where nothing happen. Even if it's just two people falling in love without much else happening, I can appreciate it for what it is, but this felt like an attempt to create something where a lot happens, but towards the end, nothing has truly happened. I honestly would have preferred something that was boring as opposed to this. Maybe try fleshing out the characters a bit more, giving them time to grow into themselves and establish relationships with the other characters? What we got was a ton of half developed characters in a bid to rush along a nothing plot, which meant that when it came time for us to understand why certain characters behaved totally out of character, we're left scratching our heads.

That leads me back to the characterisation. I feel like the characters were split into two: the ones who get development and the ones who don't. They had so many wonderful characters, and only about two or three of them had actual growth and context, and even then, just half done. The rest of them were perfect as they were, needed no growth, could do no wrong which only made it more frustrating when they did something wrong. I'm circling here so I'll conclude the review.

I realise this an incredibly long review, but I guess I just had a lot to say. And for all the faults I found, I will say that they truly did try to make something worthwhile, and they almost did. It genuinely did have some moments that made me so happy, but now I'm just so sad because I was expecting to love this a lot more. The acting was good, the chemistry was decent and like I mentioned, a few of the supporting characters were amazing. But the writing just let everything down.
I've said this before, but bad acting, subpar cinematography and editing can be supplemented, but a bad story? Drags everything down.
I really wish it hadn't.

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IF LOVE WAS ENOUGH, BREAKUPS WOULDNT EXIST.

This line is uttered by Earth in episode 11 and there could not be a more suitable tagline for the show than this. In life we are all separated into three factions, the few of us who have no idea what to do with our lives, the others who do know, but have no means to achieve them, and the rest who are perfectly clear about their life's timeline. The characters of this show can also be classified in these categories. None of their lives are perfect, even if it looks perfect on the outside. Filled with real life problems, the show is relevant, but underwhelming.

THE STORY:
The series follows the life of a group of people, some friends, some acquaintances and some relationships. Cheating, lying, and trust issues form the crux of the story. While some may argue that these problems are dealt with everyday in real life, it gets exhausting after a point, both in life and in the series. The title is very well suited as the characters contemplate everyday as to whether they must leave the friend zone, and enter a relationship. All in all, most relationships within this show were toxic to the extreme, with very few exceptions, them being Boom and Earth's friendship and the brief relationship between Boom and Bern. Good and Boyo's relationship begins with a one night stand, Boom and Tor deal with his insecurity towards her job, Amm and Bern have a give and take and never give back relationship, while Sam and Earth's relationship is ruined by Stud, Earth's snake of a friend. As the show progresses each of these problems, with their relationships only get worse. Boyo falls in love with Good, but he does not reciprocate because they had decided to keep it just purely a one night stand. Tor believes every rumor about his girlfriend without consulting her first, leading to their breakup. Amm doesn't believe Bern would be able to do anything but use her money, and they breakup. Sam cheats on Earth with Stud and they breakup. The rest of the story follows the aftermath of these events.

THE ACTING:
I've got to give props to every single actor who worked on this series. They've all played their characters very well. It takes serious skill to make you want to slap a character, but they've managed to do it. Special props to Singto, Namtan and Plustor. They really bought out every quality of their characters exceptionally.

THE PRODUCTION:
The production could have been handled better. It was very dissapointing to see the characters go through no actual growth throughout the series, and for the characters that did grow from their mistakes, it was ruined by making them return to their old habits.

THE OST:
Nothing to hit home about. Your standard OST.

THE POSITIVES:
Though this series had a ton of negativity, there were several positives spewed her and there. The friendship between Boom and Earth was just beautiful and not toxic at all like some other friendships in this series. Another great example was how Boyo handled her sexual assault attempt. She handled it extremely well and with the utmost bravery. Other than that there is nothing else to rave about with this series.

THE ENDING:
Among all the things to be dissapionted in within the series, the ending takes the cake. Every piece of character growth was thrown out the window just for them to end up exactly the way they started out, miserable. Boom and Tor start dating again, and Earth gets back together with Sam. The only person you could actually see the growth in at the end was Stud. Every other character does nothing but fall back into old habit for the sake of the storyline. Very dissapointing indeed.

Overall this show does a good job at keeping you reeled in with the drama, but it soon gets annoying and repetitive. The story doesn't exactly hold up well and if any lesson is to be learned through this series, they are certainely not good lessons. Hopefully all the characters get a half decent storyline in the second season and actually go through some character development. I hope this review helped anyone struggling with the decision on whether to watch this series. Thank You!

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I'll say it - that was not fun for me

I had such a hard time with this one - because you put together Off, Tay, Jorin, and a stacked support and guest list, in probably one of the most uncomfortable settings ever, only to pair it with my compulsive need to finish every series I start? I couldn't drop it, I couldn't stop it, I couldn't stop watching (I can't drop stuff) and I couldn't stop complaining because despite everything the series had going for it, this has got to be one of the dramas that definitely gave me the ick.

This isn't necessarily an opinion you have to agree with, after all, it is an opinion, but the concept of breaking people up for no real reason and with no real remorse.. is kind of iffy. Yes, yes, I started it despite knowing the premise and this may once again be on me, because I assumed they would be breaking up people with genuine issues, to the point of no reconciliation, but was that really what happened?
I tried to come up with explanations and reasonings as to why the company in question, Break Up Service, was a necessary evil. In certain cases, they truly did expedite a break up that would have happened sooner or later, but that was still no excuse for someone else to meddle in the relationship. In most other cases, it was simply a case of selfishness that led to a breakup, selfishness on the part of someone involved in the relationship, but in no shape or form needing to meddle.

You can tell I had a hard time with this.
I know, I know, its fiction, but fiction can make you uncomfortable to the extent that you want to speedplay through it right? The very basis of the show after the first couple of episodes began grating on me, and even the comedy began to feel forced. It still had its funny moments, but its hard to laugh when most of the humor revolves around breaking two people up. The writing became repetitive, I slowly lost interest, and ended up bingeing the last five or so episodes instead of watching them weekly because I could no longer pay attention.

The plot did pick up a bit in the second half, with the introduction of Destiny, a service that helps broken up couples get back together. The competition between them kind of did take away from my gripes, but the underlying uncomfortableness I always felt never really went away, not even until the last episode.

The characters were.. a mixed bag to say the least. Jeud, played by Jorin, was a good character, it was initially established that she is a smart and resourceful person who is also very empathetic, albeit a little naive. She should have been the perfect match to Off's Boss, who at the very beginning was a selfish, untoward jerk, and unfortunately, she wasn't, because Boss was still kind of a selfish jerk right until the end for me. I loved their reluctant chemistry though, that was one of the brightest spots in the series, their back and forth that ended in a surprisingly sweet relationship was truly a highlight. But the character development all but peeked out of the corner before the series ended, and it didn't really feel like either of them had much.
The side characters were mostly used for sole purposes, comforting the leads, creating jealousy in the leads, or as comic reliefs. They did steal the show at times for me though, especially Tay, Kapook, Jing Jing and Godji.
The guest characters were awesome. They were truly, truly awesome.

So while it wasn't terribly bad, it was certainly not what I wanted, and did not impress me as much as I wanted it to. Honestly, all the guest appearances and New's cameo in the finale may have been the high point for me, and even with all its positives, this just wasn't my cup of tea.

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Dance and romance come together in a badly written story

Was this supposed to be about Likay? Romance? Unnecessary drama? We'll never know because you can almost watch this as three different dramas - episodes 1 and 2 are kind of weird but in a nice way. We're introduced the characters, everyone's finding their legs and it's not bad, just kind of shaky and scrambled.

Episodes 3 to 6 1/2 are the actual best. You get a bunch of stuff you will never see in BLs - communication, exes being amicable, break-ups that didn't occur over misunderstandings, a new love interest respecting their crush's past relationships, an ex not being a controlling jerk, I could go on and on, it was truly so nice.

From episode 6 3/4 onwards - they went full Lakorn. Shocking CEO reveals, characters who just want to live their life being killed off for the shock factor, memorial concerts that are hijacked by love confessions, I hate it all. Just got worse and worse.

The story itself is such a mixed bag, it's supposed to follow a rising star as he practices with a Likay troupe so he can look professional in an upcoming series, where he plays a Likay performer. But Likay itself plays no role in the story beyond that - even being a part of someone's identity doesn't afford it enough importance. Again, it's only in the first couple of episodes that they talk about specifics, show us tons of performances and it's amazing.

Episodes 3 to 6 1/2 are devoted to romance. Honestly, very well done - for all the reasons I mentioned above, but also because it felt like three mature adults in a grounded relationship. There's a love triangle by the way, but it really had one of the best executions of a trope I usually hate.  It's quite hard to explain just how well all the love stories came off.. If it helps, I'm still convinced the MC had more chemistry with his ex than the ML. It was not the romantic chemistry or the banter or anything that got to me, it was the calm, grounded relationship they had.

I was pleased too soon though because episode 6 3/4 onwards - DRAMA. They leaned heavily into it and it ruined everything. Every piece of good writing was thrown out the window. Characters behaving like children, which is jaring going from wholesome adults to petulant children. I kind of wish it was just six episodes, I could've managed without knowing how the series in the series turned out. Which, if this is any indication, was probably pretty bad. This phase almost completely ruined the experience for me but I pushed through and it got a little better, just not in the way that the audience completely forgets everything they tried to sell us to create drama.

The acting is not bad, I did enjoy the Likay performances and the cinematography was well done too. It was just a very strange way to tell a story that could've been insanely straightforward. Even the characters who at times behaved completely out of character (thanks to the plot) were actually well written and just overall great people. At the end of the day, I wouldn't categorise this as a must watch, but for a one time watch, it wasn't completely terrible

(Note - the last two episodes do not currently have any subtitles but Thai auto-generated ones, and I'll remove this note once they do. Hopefully they do)

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A sequel that could've been solved in five minutes

I do not think Checkered Shirt needed a sequel. Finishing S1 I thought it was necessary, having finished S2, nope.

The main reason it needed more was because of the cliffhanger, but I just watched just over 60 minutes of footage for a resolution and conclusion that could have been handled with a phone call. I refuse to accept the story they gave us, because what do you mean "you couldn't see him and your phone broke"?

That is a terrible excuse and I do not accept it.

They used this story (it's them, five years later by the way), as a way of introducing angst and character development, which fine, but I really did not like the resolution that came with the excuse, it gave them character but felt like a last ditch attempt.

I guess what I'm trying say is, it was nice, but a misunderstanding is not plot and we need to stop using it that way. Anyway it was cute and kind of angsty and pretty short so not bad :)

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Like a meet cute in a bus

This was um.. cute!

I genuinely do not know what else to say because the series was basically 10 minutes start to finish and was essentially about someone's car being in the shop and them meeting a future love interest thanks to public transportation.

There's some weird conversations with AI, some actual cute conversations between human beings and of course there's a happy ending, because why not!

It's as filler as filler can get. If you're looking to bridge your last completed show and your next watch but you're kind of stuck on which one to choose, and you just need to scroll for ten minutes - go with this one.

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Overthinking - the 13th addition to the list

Overthinking is overrated. Do not do it.

This drama is a perfect example that shows you why you shouldn't do it because what should have been an 8/10 episode arc with minimal drama or angst turned into a minefield of bad decisions and unsaid feelings.

As ever, we started out perfectly - something that many J Dramas do without fail. We got a clear setup, a solid introduction to our leads and not much delay in seeing the plot take center stage. Episode after episode, we saw Suzume and Keishii check things off of Suzume's "10 Things to do Before I Turn 40" list, and we see their relationship blossom as an intersecting plot.

Their growth as a pairing was truly spectacular, it wasn't one sided, they communicated, they were both serious and fun loving, and the direction it was headed in made me believe that this would be a very wholesome series with one episode of angst. I was wrong.

There was an exponential downfall around episode 7 where all the things I admired about them just vanished into thin air. They didn't speak to each other for around three episodes at one point! Misunderstandings, miscommunication and SO MUCH OVERTHINKING. Three to four episodes of unnecessary angst and parallel plotlines that added nothing of substance except to the audience's annoyance. By the time the finale rolled around I was kind of tired because I had just spent 1/3rd of the series slowly falling out of love with two people I adored.

This needed around four episodes less than it actually had, and a much better second half. It was frustrating after a point, and not to say I'm disappointed.. because I'm extremely disappointed. And slightly angry.

If I could, I would probably skip episodes 9-11, and just watch the finale to wrap things up. I don't think doing this will cause any confusion either because not much of substance happened in those episodes. It's a shame really, because remove them from the equation and this is a brilliant drama. But unfortunately, this has become a mid, slightly forgettable piece of work and I wish it weren't.

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To judge me by the color of my bones

Green Bones is a cinematic masterpiece from start to finish, certainly, in terms of plot, acting, cinematography, but most in terms of leaving the audience contemplating upon and questioning their beliefs and morals.

The concept of green bones - that when one's remains contain the green bones, it is a display of their innate goodness. The concept in itself dictates that there is no way of knowing of a person is truly good during their life. But this is the belief that one of our leads, corrections officer Xavier Gonzaga lives with. After a past experience that left him believing there is only absolute goodness or absolute evil in the world, his entire worldview is shaken when he takes up his first assignment. Even then, he is resolute in his beliefs and carrying his prejudice, which has grown to become his safety blanket, he starts off on a path to ensure that our other lead, Domingo Zamora, never leaves the correctional facility.

But this steadfastness only lasts a while, because unlike he trusted, there is no way to tell if a human is good or evil, and there is no absolute on either end. We, along with Xavier, learn about Zamora's past, and all the decisions that led to him as he is in the present. The more he learns, the more he discovers, that Zamora may consider himself a bad person - but there is no way to judge him on the deeds he considered have made him a bad person.

All of this culminates in a harrowing last 30 minutes that changes Xavier as a person, and leaves the audience contemplating on the complex nature of humankind.

This was not an easy watch - it was mentally taxing to witness, not simply because of the scenes, but in their deeper understanding. It keeps you guessing and on the edge, and leaves you feeling completely drained. And honestly, it is worth the watch. It asks important questions, but doesn't really answer them, no, because they are for the audience to contemplate on. The acting completely complements this complex conundrum - both Dennis Trillo and Ruru Madrid give it their all.

I would highly recommend , but fair warning - this is not something that is an easy watch, and it surely lingers on your mind.

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Buy the Lactosoy

Umm.. I don't know how to write a review for this or how to rate this..

For story - much like Boys in Love, there was none. They played a different game every episode and by the end, Shane and Kit revealed they had feelings for each other. Sorry, Shine and Gem.
I guess you could say the story was getting them to realize their feelings for each other through the games, but the description itself says it's an ad for Lactosoy, what do I say?

For cuteness factor - yes, it was cute. Kind of nice to see the leads from Boys in Love, and they were as sweet and adorable as they were in the 12 episodes series.

For the advertisement - for being a straight up ad, they didn't really have much promotion did they? Couldn't tell if this was to promote the recently concluded series or Soy Milk, but I'll take it, I'm sick of PPL and for a series about PPL, this had barely any. When it did, it couldn't have been more obvious.

So yeah. Buy the Lactosoy and go watch in Boys in Love. Simultaneously or separately.

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Funny, requiring a bit of background study

Let me clarify lol - it doesn't actually require any studying.

The movie is about three friends who all need to get ordained for different reasons, and decide to get ordained at the same temple. They soon find that the temple is haunted, and they may not be able to get ordained because of the strange events that are happening in the temple.

The story relies heavily on mythology and folklore, and though it is explained, the narrative could have benefited from a longer and better explanation. The plot is heavily tied to the explanation, and with a better explanation and execution, the story would have flowed better.

The horror - it wasn't actually scary. I'm not a huge fan of "horror" horror, so I usually choose to watch horror comedies, which tend not to be too scary. Even on that scale, this was relatively low on the fear factor scale.

The comedy was good. It had a mix of absurdist comedy with dark humor, and had some moments that genuinely had me laughing out loud.

Overall, this was a decent movie that could have been executed better. It's definitely not the top - notch level when it comes to horror comedies, but it gets the job done if you're in a pinch.

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Fool me thrice..

Oh Club Friday, I should've gotten used to the fact that all the stories with that label are burning garbage, but here we are..

I mean, it's not bad storytelling by a long shot, it's just that everything that happens and almost everyone in it is.. trash. That's about it and watching horrible people be horrible people has some weird appeal because I ate this up. I hated it, I hated all of it and yet, I binged three episodes and watched the last one without subtitles.

Sometimes, you just want to watch it all go down in the worst possible way and I got that. Mom and son are in love with the same man, mom doesn't know her son and her husband are hooking and no one knows if this guy actually likes either of the people he's seeing! You've got other characters who are also interested in the leads and undoubtedly bring the chaos with them, I mean, it's so messy and messed up but so entertaining.

Since it's told from the perspective of one of the leads (the son), I thought the narrative was very well done without it seeming too far off and descriptive, in a way that he couldn't have known. The acting was good, the mess was messy and I happened to watch this right when I needed something terrible, so it was great.

Maybe it's worth a try, or maybe not, but it was strangely enjoyable. Even despite the fact that there wasn't a single kiss. You would think there would be at least one, but no! They always went straight for the neck, like vampires!

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ALL THE FEELS

I was not ready for this. The angst, the romance and the chemistry! I was not remotely prepared for how emotionally taxing this would turn out to be, especially considering the fact that this is a prequel.

It reminded me of small, indie productions. Ones that are set around a particular location that holds significance to the leads, with rich emotional backgrounds that may not be fully explored to facilitate smooth storytelling, but you can still situate it to the leads and their actions. The music they used, the cinematography and the bright yet blurred colours, it was beautiful. And above all, the tension. I've noticed it many times, but the way it's filmed just increases the already solid romantic tension between the leads two-fold.

The use of random and ambiguous dialogues at certain points really accentuated just how much of their relationship was the same way, there was a lot of certainty, but it was encompassed in chaos and heartbreak.

The ending made me want to revisit Unintentional Love Story so bad, it's the perfect set up to watch it again, now knowing the backstory between Ho Tae and Dong Hee, watching how it changed and how it will change again. Plus, Gong Chan's cameo, I mean, it was incredible and just made me want to revisit it that much more.

This genuinely served, those yearning gazes, genuine chemistry, paired with an emotional story and a romantic lens made for such a touching story.

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Anguishing Allure

The journey of Lada and Earn in rediscovering their spark was a painful one for them and us, but at the end of that path, there always seemed to be a glimpse of hope.

Misunderstandings, parental pressure and prejudice, scars of the past, rivals in love, these were just a few of the obstacles the leads had to overcome in order to resolve their issues and discover that they never stopped loving each other, but no one makes it easy for them, least of all themselves.

It was frustrating through and through to watch, but that was part of the formula, part of the experience. I found myself saying multiple times that none of this would have happened if they had just had communicated like they constantly did before it all went down and out, but all the drama and angst was part of the appeal. When one thing began to get resolved, the next problem cropped up, and that's just how it went along.
Weirdly enough, this is something I've seen a lot, but it's been quite a while and it took some getting used to before I was able to sit back and enjoy the drama as it came, because it kept coming.

Until that happened though, it was the chemistry between the leads that kept me in it. A healthy relationship and not, the leads definitely had enough chemistry to move the story on even when it seemed to be stalling. The acting was extremely good from the both of them, all their emotions were on full display and you could feel their pain and sadness as they did.

It was good, a good balance between romance, drama and slight comedy. It may take some getting used to, some of the scenes may seem extremely over the top but stick with it, and it may be a happy ending for the viewer as it was for them.

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As advertised

This was as advertised, literally nothing else happened.

Both couples are shown after a year of dating, with Yi coming back to Thailand and meeting with Plaeng, and Gene and Nuea navigating their relationship after a year of dating.

They decorate the café for Christmas, teach each other how to make coffee and play the guitar and discuss stuff that happened over the past year and also what they have in store for them in the future.

There are two episodes, the first featured Yi and Plaeng, the second featured Gene and Nuea. Besides a ton of cute moments and a lot of conversations, there wasn't quite much else.

Also, this is the follow up to the finale of Coffee Melody, and in retrospect, it's a choice. The finale did have some updates on all the characters, but I would have preferred them in the special as well. It's just a weird production, a finale that didn't feel like one and a special that didn't feel like one either.

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