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Friend Zone thai drama review
Completed
Friend Zone
1 people found this review helpful
by Pecbounce
Aug 19, 2020
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 7.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
This review may contain spoilers

Bold but not quite impactful

Realism and Representation: Compared to other GMMTV titles, I must say this one really feels like LGBTQ people are actually one of their targeted demographics. There are no "wife" jokes/comments. There is a variety of gay characters, none of them stereotypes. Most of them are also older, not university or high school students, which meant their stories aren't about coming out or confusion about their sexuality. There is a gay couple in their 60s. Sam and Earth are in a long term relationship, dealing with infidelity. Stud is a confident player who knows what he wants. It's refreshing to see this sort of portrayal - he's going after sex, not a relationship (most of the time anyway). He also says if Boyo is a gay man, she'd be a top because she slept with her ex and her housemate - which is false because being promiscuous, sex-positive, or having a high libido has nothing to do with someone's preferred role, gender or sex. There is mention of open relationships and threesomes. Pun and her husband are basically in an open relationship. There is homophobia and misogyny in Tor's rap because he's humiliating Good Job by 1. questioning his sexuality and 2. suggesting he's a bottom. This is in line of Tor's asshole character, as well as rap culture being highly homophobic and misogynistic.

Story: it doesn't really have a plot. It's more like a slice of life and how characters interact with each other and react to different events. A more mature show with relatable stories, it never delves deep but instead touches on a number of things, including objectification, slut shaming, jealousy, parents divorcing, sex, gays having to prove themselves, depression, revenge, (attempted) rape, abortion, etc. Cheating and its aftermath are the most prominent and persistent theme throughout the show. These are all big topics, so kudos to the writers for being bold. While entertaining, for some reason, it doesn't have much emotional impact. It doesn't make me cry. I'm not especially invested any of the characters, even Earth and Sam's relationship, perhaps because they didn't have much chemistry, and they got sabotaged so soon.

Characters: they're all flawed but likable characters. They make mistakes but they try to be better. The mistakes and decisions they make are reasonable, ones many people make. They fight and make up. In other words, they feel real. By the end of the series, I really feel like each of them matured.

Acting: everyone gave solid performances although crying scenes in the beginning aren't convincing at all. Singto is a little rigid in certain scenes as good-natured Earth but his vengeful Earth is awesome. He makes self-sabotage look cool. I must also say the most emotional scene of the series has to be when Sam and Earth make up at the end. That scene is very well done, kudos to Nat and Singto.
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