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DaddyBrioche

USA

DaddyBrioche

USA
Baker Boys thai drama review
Completed
Baker Boys
1 people found this review helpful
by DaddyBrioche
Oct 18, 2022
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 4.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 4.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

Slow, humorless, soap-opera version of a great Japanese manga.

This is the fourth take on the Fumi Yoshinaga's "Antique Bakery", and the least enjoyable. It is written to pander to a traditional "soap opera" audience, so BL fans, LGBTQ audiences and others are likely to be disappointed. Its one bright spot (in addition to the cute and handsome cast) is that there is occasional emphasis on cooking details. They even show Weir lowering the temperature partway through baking the cannele! However, this endearing sensitivity to food is then wasted with brute force product placement. The worst was Carnation Condensed Milk in a tube being put on a mango/rosemary topping. Yuck. The original "Antique Bakery" manga itself is not strictly BL, and "Baker Boys" even less so. This version lost the playful absurdity that the manga , Korean and anime versions maintain. I'd say it's mostly humorless, except for random humor thrown in to "lighten the mood". The producers seem more interested in tackling serious topics, but then seemed to show minimal understanding of abduction, child abuse or any of the many dysfunctional family dynamics it attempts to deal with. Many of the scenes are too long; we found ourselves multitasking on our smart phones waiting for the next scene. If you do watch it, don't be afraid to watch it at 1.25 or 1.5 speeds. I didn't start doing this until episode 10. Surprisingly, the music sounded better at 1.25 than at normal speed. This series could be edited down to a single 90-120 movie that might have re-watch value. The music was sometimes heavy handed, too much drama for the scene, or the wrong mood for the scene.

As a slow soap-opera, it does very well. As an entertaining and lively version of a classic Japanese manga, not so much.
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