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NordicFox

Estonia

NordicFox

Estonia
Oxygen thai drama review
Completed
Oxygen
1 people found this review helpful
by NordicFox
Jul 27, 2022
13 of 13 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 6.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 5.5
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 3.0
This review may contain spoilers

A slow-moving sweet series about love and support

If I had to describe this show with only one word I would say it is calm. The pacing, music, acting, videography - everything is very soft and calming, some would probably even use the word boring. If you’re more into loud and steamy Thai dramas with over the top acting, then it’s probably not your cup of tea. I personally quite enjoyed it. There were definitely a lot of things that could’ve been better, but overall I liked it.

The story itself is your average BL, nothing too original, but what lured me in was the calming atmosphere this show had. Videography was really well done in my opinion. And the music choices complemented it nicely. I liked the idea of another person being your oxygen in life, but not in a way where they save you from everything and make everything bad disappear, but rather help you conquer the world by being next to you and supporting you. The relationships in this story were realistic and healthy. Also, I loved that they didn’t use those typical harmful BL tropes like top/bottom, wifey, overprotectiveness etc. I am a big fan of shows that don’t use too many steamy scenes just for the sake of it. I am a sucker for the soft beautiful love, where a couple holding hands, cuddling and having one or two kisses is more than enough to understand their longing and love for one another. I find it much more powerful than any steamy scene that usually has no importance to the main plot.

Usually I’m not a big fan of OST in Thai series, but I really liked the song Oxygen as it really sums up the whole series and what it is about. Nut’s voice was really suitable for this song as it gave it life. I want to say a big thank you to them for making an English version for international fans. It’s such a small yet nice gesture.

As for couples I find that even though Solo and Gui’s story is a beautiful love story, I do think that their acting wasn’t the best. I know that these roles were, for both of them, their first bigger acting jobs. Therefore, I think that some of the problems lie there. But maybe it is because of the director? Who knows… The point is there were scenes where I did enjoy their acting and then there were scenes where I felt like they were just reciting text not acting. There was often no flow in their dialogues, like something important was missing. I wonder whether maybe they got too little time to prepare before shooting started? It may also be because of the script or the fact that they made a couple out of two introverts who both had sad backstories and therefore were meant to be quiet and serious. You have to be quite an experienced actor to pull off a character who doesn’t speak much, because you should be able to convey emotions through body language. All in all, I did like their story, but at the same time I felt that chemistry and acting wise there was much left to desire.

For me the whole heart of the show was Kao (and his relationship with Phu). Boss definitely stole the show with his portrayal of Kao. I even think that they were better than the main couple which doesn’t happen often in series. I just felt that Kao brought the whole show to life. Whenever he was in the scene the scene was so much better. He is much more experienced than the other mains, so it is quite understandable. His scenes had more flow and playfulness in them, too. It may also be the case because his character was one of the only extroverts in this show. As for his relationship - I wasn't a big fan of Phu, but after each episode I liked him more, even though it was clear that acting wise Phuri is not as good as Kao. But he managed to pull his character off, though.

As for the third story - I couldn’t care less! It was such a mess! I couldn’t stand Dr.Petch at all! He was such an unpleasant character. He was basically using everyone around him during the whole show. Khim also took me almost the whole show before I could stand her. Her obsession with same-sex couples was disturbing (she taking videos and pictures without consent was just horrible, but then she also posted them online) and her reasoning behind why someone is gay or not was just so harmful stereotyping of a gay man. I had to really push myself to not skip their story completely. And their ending? I really didn’t get it either. As I said - it was a mess.

Another disturbing thing for me was Solo’s father. First, I wasn’t too keen on the casting choice. I was expecting someone much older, but we got such a young actor instead. It would have been okay, if there would have been a story that Solo’s parents were young when they got him, but no - it just didn’t make sense. Second, he was such a toxic character. He basically imprisoned his grown-up son and starved him, because he wanted to visit his boyfriend. Like what? And then, when said grown-up son manages to escape, his boyfriend and best friend basically say that he is selfish, when in reality it is his first time to do things for himself in order to get away from his controlling father. And then everything is just pushed under a rug like nothing bad happened as both characters decide to start on a clean slate. This whole storyline was a big no-no for me.

So, in the end, I do think this show has its moments and charm. However, I do understand why some don't like it at all. One of the main reasons this series is not a ten point series is probably acting and casting. Also, the script could’ve been much better. I do recommend you to watch it if you are more into calm and soft love stories with beautiful videography like me :)
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