SeanTeaTime

"A Harsh Dose Of Reality: The Series" So Good But Rough To Watch

So I'm writing this review after my second viewing of this series. The first time I watched it I wasn't fully invested, so I missed A LOT of plot you cannot multitask during this show. So be prepared to sit down and really pay attention. I also watched this before its prequel movie "Kinematics Theory" which is a whole different entity. I wanted to go in fresh and to be honest I don't think it's necessary to watch that first, it wasn't my cup of tea anyway. I followed everything well enough and it can stand alone as its own story. I was told beforehand that the series and movie are hella different in tone too (weirdly lol), so depends on your preference. I much prefer this 1000% in every way and I think it deserves more credit than its given! Fluffy stories are fun sometimes, but don't overlook these absolute gems as well in storytelling and relatability just because it's "depressing" or "uncomfortable".

This series takes place 10 years into a relationship between Zhe and Nan. So from when they were 18 until 28, that's a pretty mature concept right off the bat because people can change a lot in those years. Then we add onto a plot of "cheating" coming from Nan. Which if you've watched this, you know isn't actually the case but that's what were presented with initially. So it's not deceiving at all with what's to expect from this show. However, I wasn't expecting the show to present so many complicated situations that honestly were fantastically presented in every way. It's heartbreaking, frustrating, complicated, messy and really rough to watch at times. But it felt real, so real at times that I felt like I was invading into someone's privacy. Going into more detail, there's already this huge blow to this relationship from the beginning. But then we get Zhe cheating back and for real not a red herring like Nan's. Listen, I get it but that doesn't make it okay. Especially because Nan's cheating wasn't even real! It was great storytelling, but holy crap I wanted to scream. There's quite a bit of back and forth between Zhe and Nan, to where you will get so frustrated with them guaranteed. Nobody is "innocent" they are all very much human beings making mistakes and I really appreciated that aspect of the characters developments. Because overall, this show is about them finding themselves without each other.

So I will say this. Without the talent of our two main actors, this series would've crashed hard. The actors didn't pull any punches, in many ways. There's so much love and care there from the characters, from the flashbacks (that swim scene with the kiss was super cute) and even from more present day exchanges. Like so so much, little things too that you kind of forgive the misgivings this couple has because you want so badly to see them work out! Which is the point I know, but my god it was really something. Like when you see Nan (played perfectly by John Wu) look at Zhe (also played beautifully by Huang Li Feng) its magical and obvious that the love never goes away between them. Even after the forced breakup when there's healing going on and then eventually reconnecting after all that they fall right back into place. If the actors weren't as good I wouldn't of felt so invested, but because they are it actually hurts to see them in love and hurt each other. Hurt themselves too even in the course of the story! Like my heart was aching dude. Especially during Nan's perspective, holy fu**. That phone call scene was roughhhhh. "Can't you fell how much I love you?" Yes Nan I can feel it. Some of the best and most believable romance acting I've ever seen, let alone in an LGBTQ centered story.

So last thing I'll say about the acting specifically may sound weird, but hear me out! So like I said the two main actors did a great job at presenting as being realistic. So that was also during the scenes where they were gettin down (you know what I mean lol). It looks pretty real first off, I was whiplashed in the first like 10 minutes of the show and later on after the bench reunion. My lord give me warning first! So the reason why I bring this up is because there's even explanations of where the characters are at emotionally in those scenes too. Which is interesting. Like whether it be feeling distant and broken (ie. the cup) or needing to take control (ie. "wrestling" lmao). Its adult and very much needed in the story for it to make sense. Moving onto some of the overarching themes. Like I said before, self-discovery apart is HUGE in this. Dependability vs. love, feeling needed vs. being taken care of. All fascinating concepts and HEAVYYYY. Even just trying to move on from a breakup and find independance again. This is stuff that a lot of series or films about romance/love will avoid because it can be so dark and dreary but you know what! It's reality baby and it needs to be discussed. I loved seeing Zhe realizing he kinda needed that pull away to find himself again, even if it's done in not a good way at all.

Although Zhe was mostly the MC of the series I would say, I loved let me repeat LOVED that we got Nan's side too. Made me think of "Theory of Love" but obviously much darker. So we transition from Zhe to Nan after they "run away together" after the...bench and reunion lmao. This made the title of the series much clearer to me, since obviously "ambiguous" means more than one interpretation. There's never just one side. He literally just wanted to surprise Zhe with a house and here comes Jimmy (demon embodied) bribing him with money for that and blackmailing him with his father's illness, medical bills and outing "scandal" eww. Jimmy's character made me feel so gross, I wanted to fight I swear. It also made me so mad and devastated for Nan's character whom was my favorite (and Chunzi, whom we'll get to). He never cheated! I wanted Zhe to prove Jimmy wrong by not cheating "back" but again this series isn't trying to sugar coat stuff. We're getting deep ya'll and it sucks. Heart broken many times. The first time I cried in the show was learning the truth about Nan and having to see him suffer being so in love.

Alright, so we all know I had to talk about Chunzi. Best friend Chunzi, who had the sass and determination to snap Zhe out of his funk so he kept his dignity after the forced breakup. Good friend and deserved better. Chunzi was such an interesting character to throw in at the side and throw me off. Because I was already so invested and then I got even more invested! It made me want to cuss out Chao, because seriously f*** him! Making Chunzi think they finally found a hubby and dude is texting Zhe being like "believe me you're the one I love." F*** you! He wanted love for once and this was the last shot. TRASH! Also Chao saying he was staying with Chunzi because they're depressed and lonely. Ooh I was so heated. Great topic of discussion and presentation in the plot, but ooh I saw red. Again I have to say, poor Chunzi. I felt for them I really did poor baby. What a devastating storyline ending. That was the second time the series had me bawling.

In the final act we get a callback to peeling the shrimps, but now Zhe is independent and does it himself. Jimmy confessing to what he did, which should've happened earlier dbag. Canada doesn't want you dude trust me! We learn he's a literal sociopath, whose had some awful things happen to him. But it's not really meant to make us sympathize with him, more understand the motives. And we get a flash forward to a few years later. The characters needed time and as "open" as the ending wanted to be, it was pretty clear to me what this was. Zhe and Nan crossing the bridge at the same time means they will always cross paths. It's time to start anew with each other based on the looks they give and saying one anothers names. There's a lot of hope there and the love never went away, as it wouldn't and shouldn't. Circumstances or not, like Zhe said it's in the past and they can move on together again. Hopefully this time they can actually get married though. Damn, I wouldn't change anything about this other than the dialogue being really really fast. Which made it hard to keep up sometimes. So rewinding will be needed to watch this lol. But do watch it, please. Especially if you need a good cry.

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What Even Was This Trying To Be?!

Well...I watched this...barely. I, like many it seems, watched this series to see Mild as Tee. Well he was indeed the strongest part of the series. His character was cute and he actually got a good dramatic scene in this to show off his range more, which was shocking because that is not the tone of this show at all. But other than him, I can't really find much else positive to say about this series unfortunately.

There was wayyyyy too much going on in this that it's so confusing and chaotic. The overuse of sound effects was obnoxious as hell, more so than other series I've seen. There are not many likable characters in this, many of them are either doing way too much or not enough. The sister character I literally wanted to strangle all the way until the end of the series. Also wtf even was "Thor's" plot line with the gym owner friend? I'm sorry but that was so dumb. The show struggled clearly to try and be funny and quirky, but it just missed the mark by a mile. Nothing could be taken seriously or by face value even. The fake-out romantic moments were so fu***** annoying! It's fine if it happens once or twice, but holy sh** it was endless!

Though I thought Pond's character was okay, albeit dense and treated as eye-candy a lot which irritated me. He actually looked good with Tee by the end, for example that post-it wall at the end was cute. But dude, close your damn eyes when you kiss. That always bothers me in any type of romance, especially if it doesn't change by the end and it didn't. So basically I ended up skipping soooo many scenes in this because it just dragged on and on, and I could not handle it anymore. I don't really think missing those things affected my overall feelings of this show, because if I couldn't get into it by episode 5 it was a lost cause anyway. I got the gist of it and I think it's definitely one to skip altogether. Watch Mild in "TharnType" because that's his best role to date. I also have to leave off with how LineTV needs to fix their subtitling issue BADLY. This show's subtitles were so off I had to rewrite them in my head to make sense! It's not a fan-made site and tons of international fans use it now (like me!) so please double-check your translations and hire new translators if that's the issue! Be like Viki even and have reliable fans input their own! It messes with the viewing experience.

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Cute Little Side Story, Not Enough Development

Yes I watched "Reminders" first, now that we've got that out of the way. This little mini series was cute. I thought Mean's character 2 was way more likable in this series than in "Reminders". Sure the character is still a total goof, but he's lovable and squishy! They also fixed his hair, thank god! No more weird semi-mullet. Plan's character Wish continued to confuse me. I never ever found him attractive physically in LBC, but in "Reminders" and this he was? Maybe it's the dyed hair? Other than looks though his character was more understandable this time around. He wasn't overly cruel or kinda using 2 for his kindness. I understood his frustrations with feeling useless without a job and jealous when 2 lied to him. Though I think it was slightly overboard at the end, it resolved pretty quickly though that felt like because of the time constraint of the series itself. Either way, this was alright!

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Why Only 3 Episodes!?

I think this series had a lot of potential...if it was longer. 3 episodes does not make a cohesive story arch, let alone 3 seperate ones. I will say, I loved seeing Perth and Saint play a couple again. I miss Ae and Pete so much! Though this couple (Pin & Son) they played was nothing like Ae and Pete, they still worked off of each other very well. Perth is a fantastic actor and he shows that again in this series in the final episode. Even if there wasn't much screen time given to showcase much! However, I appreciate that of the 3 couples the 1 that got a love scene was them. Thank you lol!

They brought back Mean and Plan as well, though this time around I wasn't feeling it. I enjoyed seeing them on the same screen, but the characters they played in this kinda sucked. Wish (played by Plan) had fantastic hair lol which threw me off because he looked pretty fine and I never saw him as attractive in LBC, but the character was pretty cruel for no contextual reason. Unless I'm missing something? Then Mean as Two was just really really strange to see. Two is kinda supposed to be a little dumb and naive, which doesn't suit Mean at all. He's better off playing strong silent characters. This entire series felt like a weird alternate universe of LBC and I was both intrigued and confused. Noh and Phun I have never seen before because Love Sick never intrigued me, but in this they were alright! I liked that they were pretty level-headed. I wish the series had gone on longer, but I get this was kinda just an actor promotion. I wish Saint was going to be in LBC season 2, but if there is a season 3 DON'T RECAST HIM or try to have Pete gone again! I'll be pissed and I want more of Perth and Saint.

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Disappointing But 1000% Better Than The Sequel Series

"What The Duck" had so much promise at the beginning. I was actually really interested in each of the characters stories and was also anticipating Mew coming into the show (love him so much!) First things first, this show is shot really well. More cinematically than many other television drama programs. It also has a solid cast, though I wish they would've utilized some of them more. Like my man Mild Suttinut Uengtrakul, whom I know from TharnType when he played Techno. He's got such a presence on screen and his character kinda sucked, all of the side characters felt pretty weak.

I will say also I think Pree and Rambo's storyline overall was stronger than Pop and Oat's who annoyed me after awhile. I may be biased, but Pree was my favorite character in this show. Him and his sister Mo. They had the most common sense, they were likable throughout the show and they are both so beautiful to look at XD. Mew again got me with his acting as well, he broke my heart in this series and so did Art. Those two also went all out for this show, like dang that first scene of them was...something lol I wasn't expecting it! Though their story line was kind of a letdown at the end (the godawful sequel series made sure of that) it was interesting enough throughout for me to be okay with it. However, Pop and Oat never got there for me which is a shame because they had moments. I almost turned off the show though when the Oat sexual-assault implication was revealed, thank god it wasn't true because I would've never gotten past that! I would say overall watch the show, but expect a lot of plot that's unfulfilled and not a whole ton of romance from the lead leads. You'll get that from Pree and Rambo in a few episodes but that's about it. Also beware of the shows crudeness, it's frank and doesn't really bat an eye at it!

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Too Many Janes, Not Enough Wings

Okay so my first thought going into this was, is he a fallen angel!? Which was clearly the original intention from the show's previews. When they decided to cut that out completed, I have no idea. But I think it was a really stupid decision, because keeping that aspect in would've made the plot make way more sense and would've made the show stick out way more overall compared to other BL's. Cutting that out and still leaving in the blood pact, clear nods at angel wings and supernatural abilities was just blatantly obvious.

Moving on from that. I kind of hated how people tread P'Jane in this show. Including from little Jane! Is he perfect? Definitely not and he makes some questionable decisions in this. But is he an entirely red flag? Uh no, he's more beige if anything! These pacts he's making with people, I'm gonna be forreal were blaming him when they go sideways, but it's actually those making the deals that are screwing them up 99% of the time. And then they expect him to clean up the pieces, which he honestly shouldn't usually do! They have to learn from their stupid mistakes! On top of that crap and people just blaming him for everything and everyone's poor decisions. Little Jane's indecisiveness and lack of commitment throughout this got on my damn nerves after a couple episodes. We really didn't need it as a constant plot device.

Speaking of plot devices, i HATE amnesia being thrown into this for no reason. First of all, amnesia like how its presented here in reality is not common at all. It was so unnecessary and just tossed in for added last minute drama that we didn't need! Then we had kidnapping too in the last minute, for a how without a whole ton of tropes BL's often have it made me sad to see those randomly pop up in the last few eps. But yeah I still really liked our lead actors, their overall screen chemistry was good and dang there was spice in this that had me mouth hanging open lol. I hope to see them in more moving forward! Hopefully in a show with less random plot threads left over by the end and a show that can commit to a concept.

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Boi are you Gelly?

Wow this was MESSY. We've got the core 4 friends in this and the teen angst is strong with this one. It reminded me so much of 'Gameboys' and 'ITSAY' (which duh makes sense same director of ITSAY) in how it puts more emphasis on the cinematography and editing/use of colour. Seriously the editing style in this was awesome, one of the best I've seen in queer Thai media. The Y2K styling too in the outfits, nails, etc made me so happy. The gel manicures from these boys were giving me LIFE!
I’m also glad all these “high schoolers” are played by mid to late 20year olds lol. Because when they were making out I was like uhhhhhhhh...oh yeah! These are actually adults!

So with the plot. I think the aesthetics of the show out shadows the plot quite a bit, it can get kind of slow and cumbersome but nothing that held me back from wanting to see more. Like in ITSAY, these are meant to be teens so take some of the antics with that in mind. You're going to be stupid as a teen, and possibly hurt others feelings in the process! But each character is a good person at their core and ultimately figuring themselves out. So Chian stringing along Mod for a hot minute was pretty much the same thing Bua was doing, just in a different font! Same with what Fou was doing to Baabin. You like who you like romantically and it can be heartbreaking. I wanted to hug each of them so badly when they cried! But its part of life and you navigate.

Super excited for a season 2!

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Peaches and Cream I Guess?

This spinoff sequel was fun and funny like how the original series was. I just lacked to see what the point of this was? Because it didn't really push the story any more, if anything it went backwards with certain things including our side couple of William & Est. I'll stick by that more BL's/GL's need multiple seasons or spinoffs, but this one wasn't necessarily one of them.

Also Jimmy & Sea, Force & Book, Tay & New and Junior & Mark showing up was so freaking random XD. Honestly the best part of this spinoff because I got to see them all in one thing and they used their actual names.

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Melody of Multiverse Level Timelines

This was great, overall I would suggest anybody to give a chance. You'll definitely have to pay attention though, because the storyline can get kind of convoluted throughout. It was hard to follow at points, but it wraps back around so most likely you'll be on track by the end. I think Force and Book's relationship was semi-rushed at the beginning so it didn't hit quite as hard as it could've. But I understand with the lost memory and twists it makes more sense. I think Book did a fantastic job with the complex emotions thrown at his character throughout this plot. As well as Junior too, it was wild some of the things they showed in this involving mental health crisis. And Mark...anytime I get to see Mark I'm happy.

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