22
22
2
Zii3
Unmemorable age gap romance with rather immature characters.
(I rate vertically filmed micro dramas on their own sliding scale). May be okay for one watch for fans of the actors or the trope premise. I like age gap dramas, but there are other vertical dramas that have done this plotline better. I like these actors too, but prefer other stories they've done.Cute but after the beginning kind of boring. The actors are good but the characters are generic. The FL gets rather annoying; hot-headed, jumps to judgments, and whines and cries A LOT.
Some sexual/romantic tension moments but not much intimacy. Mostly green flag ML but he needed to use his words to communicate instead of trying to force kisses on the FL to express himself.
Found myself a bit annoyed multiple times. Overall unmemorable except for the funny scene at the hospital in the very beginning.
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This review may contain spoilers
A decent watch for fans of the actors.
A vertically filmed micro drama (I rate these on their own sliding scale). General spoilers below.This was an okay one-time watch because of the lead actors. It felt a little long and suspension of disbelief is required. The leads do have some fun interactions and there's a good stretch of sweetness before the happy ending, which was nice. An easy watch with nothing that memorable. A couple lip presses, a few sexual tension moments, and some sweetness. Despite misunderstandings, the ML does support, protect, and pursue the FL.
Story includes: mistaken identities, misunderstandings (that go both ways between the leads), amnesia, druggings, attempted rape, kidnapping, 3rd wheel wannabes, and both horrible and loving family members.
Expansion of general synopsis:
The ML is a CEO and has insomnia and psychological erectile dysfunction. The FL is a nutritionist and her family blackmails her with her mother's health to do what they want (the mom is in a coma and under long-term care). Two years ago, the families arranged a marriage but the FL's step-sister had heard negative rumors about the ML and (with her mother and father) made the FL sign the marriage papers instead. The leads did not see each other when submitting the paperwork. In present time, the leads are set up to meet in a hotel room with the ML drugged and they sleep together. The FL recognizes the ML as someone from her past, but the ML doesn't remember her. Afterwards, the ML mistakes the FL as a sex worker and then humorously misinterprets her interactions with nutrition clients and her efforts to land more contracts. Since he can both perform and sleep soundly with her, he ends up offering to hire her himself if she's so desperate for money. Eventually it comes to light that the FL is a nutritionist, and later that she needs money to ensure her mother's care. The ML continues to try to get a divorce from his wife, not realizing she's actually the woman living with him that he feels drawn to.
Side note: this has most of the same plot as another vertical drama with different actors, but I can't currently remember or find which one. In that one, the FL is an architect and the leads do not have a past history.
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Starts great, quickly slips into poorly written melodrama filled with air.
Watched 9/12 Eps. Overall: I wanted more quietly sassy and flirtatious Nail like in Ep 1 & 2. I was immediately intrigued by, and empathetic for, him. I also liked that he communicated boundaries but was straightforward and kind about it while being firm. It was a fresh take on a character, especially a Thai BL one, and I loved it. Sadly, the former fades away and the later starts weakening half-way through.Ep 1 & 2: Interesting! The characters and plot mystery is intriguing and the sex/intimacy satisfying. The long bathtub scene in Ep 2 is sensual and hot and done extremely well. The action, cinematography, music, and editing all work together to build a sensual crescendo. Some of the music so far is great too. These two Eps are the highlight out of the 9 that I watched.
Ep 3 & 4: Nothing memorable, but I was still hooked on the slowly-revealing mystery and looking forward to the next weekly episode.
Ep 5 & 6: Much weaker. Ep 6 especially felt more like set up for the next episode (instead of continuing the story). A lot of back-tracking to fill in a lot of history gaps at once; the previous episodes did a better job of balancing the present with insights into the past while keeping the overall story moving forward. Stopped looking forward to the next weekly episode.
Ep 7 Things keep going downhill. The entire episode is Him working to get Nail to listen to him explain and when the scene comes nothing is said! In fact, not much is said the entire episode, it's a bunch of air and some spoken statements. It's like the writer is allergic to conversations that actually go back and forth between people. There are so many latent pauses that the director/editor kept in to fill out the time. There are stereotypical "bad guys" scheming, but doing it poorly (Tec is so clueless in his approach that he's not really a threat; he keeps blatently rubbing Nail the wrong way). The "comedic" silly sound effects were copious and inane, when nothing is funny and the overall mood should be serious to sustain tension. My interest and hope in this series is sinking fast.
Ep 8 & 9: I debated dropping, but decided to give it one more chance and watched 8 & 9 back-to-back. And I *am* dropping now. At least I finally learned what happened to Blue in Ep 8. The story starts making leaps in character relationships and the progression of scenes without showing how things got there. I was so confused about Him, Nail, and Tec's first scene in Ep 8 after the way Ep 7 ended. How they got there makes no sense whatsoever. I thought I had missed an episode or something, but nope. The secondary couple is annoying, especially Chao. Tec and the cousin are 2-dimensional, delusional, low IQ, and irritating. The intimate scene between Him and Nail feels oddly forced/over-exaggerated this time, and it lacked the 'crescendo' built with actions, cinematography, and music that Ep 1 & 2 did so well with.
Tor as Nail/Blue is the most charismatic and nuanced actor of the cast. Not awesome, but above average, especially for a rookie. Everyone else is mediocre. Dew as Him shows some potential, but he is not a rookie, and his lack of range becomes more and more obvious as the story gets more dramatic and emotional for his character.
I might rewatch Ep 1 & 2 for fun sometime, but I certainly won't bother with the rest of it again.
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Nothing Redeeming.
Had a soap opera feel. Multiple dishonest characters repeatedly making stupid decisions and a melodramatic plot that is also boring. Nine is a very pushy, lying, toxic ball of red flags. The first episode was actually decent and interesting and then the things characters did after that quickly made me not care about any of them.I watched some snippets of later episodes on YouTube to determine if I wanted to keep watching after Ep 4 and I saw nothing redeeming. The dialogue is ridiculously contrived. People stay dead silent for long stretches instead of pleading their case or even verbally reacting to what another character says. It's SO unrealistic, awkward, frusterating, and inane.
The intimate scenes are okay but feel rather flat- I've definitely seen better elsewhere. They are certainly not special enough to put up with watching the whole show.
The actors are at a 7-7.5 out of 10. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt because they were given such a crappy screenplay to work with. It'd be hard for anyone to make those characters and that insipid dialogue empathetic or realistic. No one was really charismatic but they weren't bad either.
Though it's a complete waste of time it didn't leave any mental scars, so I gave it a 1.5/10.
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Lifeless Script, Acting, and "Intimacy".
After watching 2 episodes: I want more than just pretty faces! Melodrama with extremely poor writing, cliched and unlikable side characters (male, female, and trans), and weak/flat acting (and a lot of people using headshakes as fillers because they are inexperienced and because the script is so weak and unnatural).I watched the uncut version on GagaOOlala.
It is *not at all* believable that these two characters (Foam & Chris) have been in an intimate, loving relationship for awhile. Their NC17 interactions are more what I would expect in a one-time Tinder/Grinder hook-up with two people who aren't very attracted to each other but couldn't find anyone else.
Ep 1: It's unfortunate that the first NC17 scene happens before we're able to bond with the main character (let alone the 2nd lead who's dead for basically all of Ep 1) so emotionally it feels pretty empty.
Ep 2: Fewer irritating characters but nothing else improved. The writing is so awkward, unnatural, and insipid. All of the actors are obviously rookies and can't compensate for the terrible script. The NC17 scene is just as lukewarm as the one in Ep 1.
Overall:
Camp shows some varied facial expressions and at least pretends like his character is having some enjoyment in the NC17 scenes. Jimmy however, remains very flat in expression and tone of voice no matter what situation his character is in (his response to highly emotional events or tragedy is not believable at all). Since the story so far is from his point of view, it's incredibly boring. And he doesn't look quite comfortable in the NC17 scenes; he doesn't look engaged or like his character has any interest, let alone much pleasure, in what is happening. Almost like his character is half asleep or bored.
Uncut on GagaOOlala vs cut on YouTube: in Ep 1 the NC17 scene (at 32min in) timed from first kiss to the watch glowing is 4min 20sec on GagaOOlala and 1min 30sec on YouTube.
While it's very poorly crafted and I have no interest in continuing, it didn't traumatize me in 2 episodes, so it gets a 2/10.
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Ridiculously Exaggerated, Even For A Fantasy.
It's written, acted, and directed like a middle schooler's idea of porn. I barely made it through 1.5 episodes (rolling my eyes almost the entire time) before dropping.The cinematography is gorgeous but everything else is aggressively awful. The "physical intimacy" is more like an attack by a boy who has never had sex before and doesn't know what he's doing. It wasn't seductive or enticing at all. It further erroded the "I'm a cool, competent, and manly mafia leader" facade they were going for. The male lead is trying so, so hard to look and sound cool that it has the opposite effect and had me laughing. Even for a short format fantasy, the falling in love part is so fast that there's no romance to it. Almost every line is cloyingly cliché.
It was cheesy and horrible but didn't leave any mental scars so it gets a 2.
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