This review may contain spoilers
groundbreaking in some areas and reinforced stereotypes/terrible in others
Overall: I liked how they brought up several current social issues but episode 6 pretty much wrecked the series for me (see more info in my comment). It is obvious that the 2 directors and 3 writers were all men, this thing will age like milk. Aired on YouTube.
Note: there may be words/discussion in this review that people find triggering.
Content Warnings: rape (beginning of episode 6 more info in my comment), violence/beaten up, kidnapping/held against will, bullying, homophobia, transphobia, non con kissing, non con photo taking/posting, body shaming, sexual harassment, unwanted public outing
What I Liked
- bringing up and educating about social issues, ones I thought they did well include: school having sex education class, abortion, body shaming, non penetrative sex, educating about HPV, addressing transphobia
- sexual orientation and gender diversity (m/m, f/f and m/f couples; non binary character, a trans woman character who isn't the comic relief cliche)
- that they didn't shy away from showing NSFW scenes
- I enjoyed a lot of the music
Room For Improvement
- the writer/s really messed up on several issues:
1. more information under a comment with spoiler tag but the whole Alex and Jean thing in episode 6, they should have focused on the part with the pictures. The fact that people can't agree that Alex raped Jean (which he 100% did, you can say stop at any point for any reason at all) shows how badly the writers messed this plotline up. And that he continually violates her boundaries by talking to her. His friends come up with the plan to retraumatize Jean by again contacting her and then kissing her in order to get his orgasm back. His friends don't know that Alex raped Jean but Alex definitely knows this and yet he goes along with their plan WTF?!? And I predicted they would end it as they did, vomit.
2. BDSM conflated with cheating and poor communication - I was so happy to see consensual puppy play but was disappointed they went the poor communication, her not really being into it and him cheating (and yes he emotionally cheated and lied by omission). I didn't want her to take him back (welp update, guess what happened bleh)
3. Open relationship conflated with poor communication and not as good as monogamy - again I guess it was too much to hope we'd see a healthy open relationship. Instead we got them fighting/hitting each other and really bad communication before they eventually made up. And now it appears they are getting married and end up in a monogamous relationship.
4. Army and Jo - I really wanted them to work through their differences but once again in episode 11 Army is ignoring/pushing Jo's boundaries with what he feels comfortable with. I'm not saying their relationship couldn't work but I wanted to see more communication and mutual decision making. I also didn't like how they made Army violate Alex's boundaries a few times, this felt like the stereotypical gay guy who can't keep his hands off of others.
5. Kat - again they are positioning monogamy as superior to non monogamy
6. The workplace sexual harassment - eventually they showed the boss as a douche but some people are really touchy feely in a non-sexual way. I wanted the writers to make it more clear cut. So have him make an inappropriate remark "your breasts look great in that shirt" or Liu tell him to stop touching her and then he continued. As I later state, it annoyed me that Alex and Ew had to be involved at all/come to the rescue. Instead of Liu punching him, what about getting the boss other consequences like suspended without pay/fired? I would have written this plot differently.
- that Alex continues to be a gynecologist with his only training being a short tutorial on giving a pelvic exam (because that obviously is sufficient instead of years of medical school/internship #sarcasm). He should have taken vacation or a leave of absence. It's insulting that he continues to give (perhaps dangerous and incorrect) medical advice to his patients.
- whatever happened with Jean's endometriosis? (in a comment someone said that this was not endometriosis but was from a poorly done abortion, however, they never explicitly state this so I feel that a very serious medical issue was not resolved/explained well)
- Kat, why did it seem like she was having her mug shots taken? There is 1 line about him being arrested but I would have liked them to actually show him arrested and put into jail.
- too many characters/plots meant not enough screentime/not fully developed characters and plots, I also think they should have reduced the number of social issues and brought them up more organically, it felt like an after school special at some points
- Alex positioned as everyone's savior so that he can climax, this was annoying and shallow. Army even specifically asked Alex not to talk to Jo and Alex ignored him and talked to Jo. Then Alex starts yelling at Liu's boss and ignores her even though she repeatedly asks Alex to stop. They should have focused on going back in time and left the whole orgasm part out of it.
- Ew proposing at his friend's wedding, I thought this was a universal no-no, Ew it isn't your day!
- the writers tried to have flawed/complex characters but instead they made a**hole characters that I don't want to watch/don't want to see certain couples be together
- not satisfied with the ending, obviously the writers haven't heard of the butterfly effect....
Note: there may be words/discussion in this review that people find triggering.
Content Warnings: rape (beginning of episode 6 more info in my comment), violence/beaten up, kidnapping/held against will, bullying, homophobia, transphobia, non con kissing, non con photo taking/posting, body shaming, sexual harassment, unwanted public outing
What I Liked
- bringing up and educating about social issues, ones I thought they did well include: school having sex education class, abortion, body shaming, non penetrative sex, educating about HPV, addressing transphobia
- sexual orientation and gender diversity (m/m, f/f and m/f couples; non binary character, a trans woman character who isn't the comic relief cliche)
- that they didn't shy away from showing NSFW scenes
- I enjoyed a lot of the music
Room For Improvement
- the writer/s really messed up on several issues:
1. more information under a comment with spoiler tag but the whole Alex and Jean thing in episode 6, they should have focused on the part with the pictures. The fact that people can't agree that Alex raped Jean (which he 100% did, you can say stop at any point for any reason at all) shows how badly the writers messed this plotline up. And that he continually violates her boundaries by talking to her. His friends come up with the plan to retraumatize Jean by again contacting her and then kissing her in order to get his orgasm back. His friends don't know that Alex raped Jean but Alex definitely knows this and yet he goes along with their plan WTF?!? And I predicted they would end it as they did, vomit.
2. BDSM conflated with cheating and poor communication - I was so happy to see consensual puppy play but was disappointed they went the poor communication, her not really being into it and him cheating (and yes he emotionally cheated and lied by omission). I didn't want her to take him back (welp update, guess what happened bleh)
3. Open relationship conflated with poor communication and not as good as monogamy - again I guess it was too much to hope we'd see a healthy open relationship. Instead we got them fighting/hitting each other and really bad communication before they eventually made up. And now it appears they are getting married and end up in a monogamous relationship.
4. Army and Jo - I really wanted them to work through their differences but once again in episode 11 Army is ignoring/pushing Jo's boundaries with what he feels comfortable with. I'm not saying their relationship couldn't work but I wanted to see more communication and mutual decision making. I also didn't like how they made Army violate Alex's boundaries a few times, this felt like the stereotypical gay guy who can't keep his hands off of others.
5. Kat - again they are positioning monogamy as superior to non monogamy
6. The workplace sexual harassment - eventually they showed the boss as a douche but some people are really touchy feely in a non-sexual way. I wanted the writers to make it more clear cut. So have him make an inappropriate remark "your breasts look great in that shirt" or Liu tell him to stop touching her and then he continued. As I later state, it annoyed me that Alex and Ew had to be involved at all/come to the rescue. Instead of Liu punching him, what about getting the boss other consequences like suspended without pay/fired? I would have written this plot differently.
- that Alex continues to be a gynecologist with his only training being a short tutorial on giving a pelvic exam (because that obviously is sufficient instead of years of medical school/internship #sarcasm). He should have taken vacation or a leave of absence. It's insulting that he continues to give (perhaps dangerous and incorrect) medical advice to his patients.
- whatever happened with Jean's endometriosis? (in a comment someone said that this was not endometriosis but was from a poorly done abortion, however, they never explicitly state this so I feel that a very serious medical issue was not resolved/explained well)
- Kat, why did it seem like she was having her mug shots taken? There is 1 line about him being arrested but I would have liked them to actually show him arrested and put into jail.
- too many characters/plots meant not enough screentime/not fully developed characters and plots, I also think they should have reduced the number of social issues and brought them up more organically, it felt like an after school special at some points
- Alex positioned as everyone's savior so that he can climax, this was annoying and shallow. Army even specifically asked Alex not to talk to Jo and Alex ignored him and talked to Jo. Then Alex starts yelling at Liu's boss and ignores her even though she repeatedly asks Alex to stop. They should have focused on going back in time and left the whole orgasm part out of it.
- Ew proposing at his friend's wedding, I thought this was a universal no-no, Ew it isn't your day!
- the writers tried to have flawed/complex characters but instead they made a**hole characters that I don't want to watch/don't want to see certain couples be together
- not satisfied with the ending, obviously the writers haven't heard of the butterfly effect....
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