Details

  • Last Online: Nov 17, 2024
  • Gender: Female
  • Location: Canada
  • Contribution Points: 0 LV0
  • Birthday: November 25
  • Roles:
  • Join Date: October 1, 2016

LarryBell

Canada

LarryBell

Canada
Views of Love: Grey Rainbow thai special review
Completed
Views of Love: Grey Rainbow
0 people found this review helpful
by LarryBell
Apr 17, 2020
4 of 4 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
Just rewatched this after 3 years and it's a little lackluster? I loved it the first time, and this was actually my first bl show! I sobbed watching it, couldn't think about anything else for weeks. The acting just wasn't quite there for me this time. I know Porsche is reserved, but he was just a little too stiff and expressionless to feel real to me.

I think the progression of their relationship is beautiful but it could have been more developed at the same time. I feel like they go from 0 to 100 in terms of commitment and I wish we got to see them getting used to the idea of being a couple, figuring out how that works in the context of their other frienships, routine, future goals, etc, especially since we have no idea if either of them were even out before they started dating. Since the focus of the drama was largely on how lgbt people struggle to fit into the heteronormative life course, I would've liked to see the complexities of that a bit more. The focus on family is important but at the same time I wish they had either brought that conversation beyond the superficial or touched briefly on more queer issues.

Again, I felt they leaned too heavily on extremes in terms of negative attitudes/stigmatization of characters. Yes, there are people like that, but real life is more nuanced. They touch on this briefly when discussing the legalization of gay marriage, but I wish they had chosen to push the "why" in terms of obstacles a little more in the story as a whole.

These characters are great, flawed, and relatable, for sure, but I would have liked to learn more about them. We get so few glances into Nueng's experience, for example. He is in nearly every scene, we know his personality, but we don't know much about what made him who he is, conflicts he went through, stuff like that. It's hard to tell what he's really thinking and he comes across as naive.

What I do love about it is Porsche's law focus. I think it's a powerful move to create a character that is all about rules but has the wisdom to know when they're wrong. He wants to use law to advocate for what he believes, or at least what he wants to believe. He learns the rules to break them, and we get a glimpse into that internal struggle we all go through at some point where we have to decide whether we choose to go along with rules or question them. I think that's a lovely metaphor that could've been straightforward and cheesy, but works well with the story, the characters, and the mood to create something very moving.

It could have gone in two directions in terms of plot and I was a little disappointed with what they chose to do. This drama stays very true to its original intent of considering how queer characters live "normal" lives, but I wish it had gone in more of a "new normal" direction. This does, however, fit very well into the law-abiding personality of Porsche, so I can understand.

And as dear as this drama is to me I've got to knock some points for that ending. Totally unnecessary, but hey, c'est la queer media vie, unfortunately :( And the truly sad thing is, this is normal. Any "realistic" queer drama, anyway. But that's another issue for another day and not the fault of the drama but of the society we live in.

Overall, good show. Not the best, but certainly worth the watch and will pull on the heartstrings in a good way.
Was this review helpful to you?