This review may contain spoilers
One of the most disappointing series I have ever watched
What I liked:
The acting was genuinely excellent. Film, Milk, and Love especially stood out, and their performances helped elevate the otherwise unappealing characters in this series. The cinematography, wardrobe, styling, and background music were also good. As expected from GMMTV’s production team, the technical side was solid.
What I disliked:
My biggest problem with this series is how terrible the characters are. A story that looks chaotic on the surface needs to show the characters’ different sides, contradictions, emotional wounds, and inner conflicts properly. Without that, the chaos just becomes shallow. Unfortunately, I do not think this series managed to do that at all.
Prim:
Prim hurts Gorya, does almost nothing to properly face what she did to her, and then ends up flirting with Bambi. Then, in Episode 4, she somehow reconciles with Bambi.
As a viewer, I was left asking too many basic questions. Even if the reason Prim and Bambi broke up is mentioned, the emotional process behind it and the path toward their reconciliation are not shown convincingly by Episode 4. The structure of the story is clearly flawed. Did Bambi ever truly make amends for what she did to Prim? Did the story build enough emotional groundwork for Prim to still be unable to abandon Bambi? The series should have properly shown all of these things before portraying their reconciliation.
It felt like the director or screenwriters understood the story in their own heads, but failed to communicate it to the audience. They seemed to assume the audience would understand what they themselves had not properly shown.
Bambi:
I do not mind Bambi being selfish. A selfish character can still be fascinating if the story gives her strong beliefs, a personal code, regret, or a clear sense of emotional conflict. But I do not think this series gave Bambi enough of any of that.
Her line to Airy about not being able to punish herself any further was especially hard for me to accept. That is not something she has the right to say to the person she hurt. If the line had been framed as words coming from her own weakness, as if she were desperately trying to convince herself, I might have understood it. But saying that directly to the victim crossed a line.
And Prim defending Bambi in that situation only made it worse. Prim should have let Bambi face the consequences on her own.
Shasha:
To be honest, I liked Shasha until Episode 8. She seemed to have a clear core as a character. I expected her relationship with Gorya to help her discover what real love means and grow as a person.
But Episode 9 destroyed that hope for me.
In order to get Gorya, Shasha uses her friend and manipulates the situation so that Gorya will come to her. And the story still lets them end up together as if this were a proper romantic payoff.
For this kind of story to work, Shasha needed to face Gorya directly and honestly tell her how she felt. Instead, it made Gorya feel less like a person Shasha truly loved and more like something she wanted to possess.
In the end, Gorya felt like an object to Shasha. I honestly cannot imagine these two lasting for many years.
Gorya:
Among the main characters, Gorya was the only one I found somewhat decent. The process of her being abandoned by Prim and then gradually healing through her relationship with Shasha had some genuinely good moments.
Even so, compared to memorable characters from other series, there were not many moments where I felt that Gorya herself was especially compelling. And since Shasha seems to treat Gorya more like something to possess than someone to truly love, I do not think Gorya will actually be happy.
This does not feel like a happy ending to me. It feels like a bad ending disguised as a happy ending.
Min:
For most of the story, Min was far too passive and indecisive. At first, it makes sense for her to be confused after meeting Praew. But the series should have shown her gradually becoming stronger through that relationship.
It should have shown Min realizing that this love was not just a temporary feeling, and that she would not allow anyone to mock or belittle their relationship. That kind of emotional growth should have been the core of her arc.
Instead, it felt like her relationship with Praew reset from episode to episode. There was very little build-up, and I kept wondering what the story actually wanted to do with her character.
Praew:
Praew was simply not compelling enough. She felt so diluted as a character that there was barely anything left to hold onto.
She should have been an important character who guided Min while also becoming her emotional support. But most of the time, she was just pulled around by Min and left standing on the sidelines.
Conclusion:
I do not know what this director and the other screenwriters have worked on before. But based on this series, I genuinely hope the writing team seriously reconsiders how it approaches scripts like this.
The director clearly has talent when it comes to visuals, editing, and presentation. That is exactly why I think the director should have focused only on the visual side instead of being involved in the writing. The visual direction had potential, but the script itself was where the series completely fell apart for me.
I had very high expectations for this series. Every GMMTV GL series I had watched before this had a strong story, compelling characters, and a world I could truly become invested in. Pluto, in particular, is one of my all-time favorite dramas. That is exactly why my disappointment and anger toward Girl Rules reached their peak.
With a cast and production team this strong, this series could have been something great. Instead, it became one of the most disappointing series I have ever watched.
The acting was genuinely excellent. Film, Milk, and Love especially stood out, and their performances helped elevate the otherwise unappealing characters in this series. The cinematography, wardrobe, styling, and background music were also good. As expected from GMMTV’s production team, the technical side was solid.
What I disliked:
My biggest problem with this series is how terrible the characters are. A story that looks chaotic on the surface needs to show the characters’ different sides, contradictions, emotional wounds, and inner conflicts properly. Without that, the chaos just becomes shallow. Unfortunately, I do not think this series managed to do that at all.
Prim:
Prim hurts Gorya, does almost nothing to properly face what she did to her, and then ends up flirting with Bambi. Then, in Episode 4, she somehow reconciles with Bambi.
As a viewer, I was left asking too many basic questions. Even if the reason Prim and Bambi broke up is mentioned, the emotional process behind it and the path toward their reconciliation are not shown convincingly by Episode 4. The structure of the story is clearly flawed. Did Bambi ever truly make amends for what she did to Prim? Did the story build enough emotional groundwork for Prim to still be unable to abandon Bambi? The series should have properly shown all of these things before portraying their reconciliation.
It felt like the director or screenwriters understood the story in their own heads, but failed to communicate it to the audience. They seemed to assume the audience would understand what they themselves had not properly shown.
Bambi:
I do not mind Bambi being selfish. A selfish character can still be fascinating if the story gives her strong beliefs, a personal code, regret, or a clear sense of emotional conflict. But I do not think this series gave Bambi enough of any of that.
Her line to Airy about not being able to punish herself any further was especially hard for me to accept. That is not something she has the right to say to the person she hurt. If the line had been framed as words coming from her own weakness, as if she were desperately trying to convince herself, I might have understood it. But saying that directly to the victim crossed a line.
And Prim defending Bambi in that situation only made it worse. Prim should have let Bambi face the consequences on her own.
Shasha:
To be honest, I liked Shasha until Episode 8. She seemed to have a clear core as a character. I expected her relationship with Gorya to help her discover what real love means and grow as a person.
But Episode 9 destroyed that hope for me.
In order to get Gorya, Shasha uses her friend and manipulates the situation so that Gorya will come to her. And the story still lets them end up together as if this were a proper romantic payoff.
For this kind of story to work, Shasha needed to face Gorya directly and honestly tell her how she felt. Instead, it made Gorya feel less like a person Shasha truly loved and more like something she wanted to possess.
In the end, Gorya felt like an object to Shasha. I honestly cannot imagine these two lasting for many years.
Gorya:
Among the main characters, Gorya was the only one I found somewhat decent. The process of her being abandoned by Prim and then gradually healing through her relationship with Shasha had some genuinely good moments.
Even so, compared to memorable characters from other series, there were not many moments where I felt that Gorya herself was especially compelling. And since Shasha seems to treat Gorya more like something to possess than someone to truly love, I do not think Gorya will actually be happy.
This does not feel like a happy ending to me. It feels like a bad ending disguised as a happy ending.
Min:
For most of the story, Min was far too passive and indecisive. At first, it makes sense for her to be confused after meeting Praew. But the series should have shown her gradually becoming stronger through that relationship.
It should have shown Min realizing that this love was not just a temporary feeling, and that she would not allow anyone to mock or belittle their relationship. That kind of emotional growth should have been the core of her arc.
Instead, it felt like her relationship with Praew reset from episode to episode. There was very little build-up, and I kept wondering what the story actually wanted to do with her character.
Praew:
Praew was simply not compelling enough. She felt so diluted as a character that there was barely anything left to hold onto.
She should have been an important character who guided Min while also becoming her emotional support. But most of the time, she was just pulled around by Min and left standing on the sidelines.
Conclusion:
I do not know what this director and the other screenwriters have worked on before. But based on this series, I genuinely hope the writing team seriously reconsiders how it approaches scripts like this.
The director clearly has talent when it comes to visuals, editing, and presentation. That is exactly why I think the director should have focused only on the visual side instead of being involved in the writing. The visual direction had potential, but the script itself was where the series completely fell apart for me.
I had very high expectations for this series. Every GMMTV GL series I had watched before this had a strong story, compelling characters, and a world I could truly become invested in. Pluto, in particular, is one of my all-time favorite dramas. That is exactly why my disappointment and anger toward Girl Rules reached their peak.
With a cast and production team this strong, this series could have been something great. Instead, it became one of the most disappointing series I have ever watched.
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