3
Zogitt
Australia
This review may contain spoilers
This show is all about relationships and it is love-hate for me
Dear Diary, I just had a lightbulb moment while watching Begin Again. I just realised that the show was designed to present us with a series of beautiful, happy or swoon-worthy moments like sugar highs and we shall want more. Unfortunately, for some of us, this will feel superficial when the highs wore off.
The show started well and promisingly. It wore the rom-com tag with pride and it left the viewer with little doubt that the show was light-hearted and fluffy. The OST is full of happy little tunes and zany sound effects to help us to spot any double entendre. The writer flipped the usual marriage contract trope and made the FL the instigator and she was smart, head strong as well as the powerful CEO of a large corporation. The ML was a sweet, gentle soul in contrast. There was good chemistry between the OTP but it was not without issues. The meet-cute was good and the pace was cracking in the first few episodes. However, once the show started to go on rails then the weak story telling began to show. One such issues was an odd tonal misalignment. As I mentioned before, the show took its rom-com root seriously. It seemed hellbent on being funny and light hearted even though when you look at the themes that were touched upon it was anything but. There was PTSD, unrequited love, one sided crush, obsession, revenge and stalking, etc . They are hardly trivial matters but the show muted their impact. You can feel an unease and a discord building under the cheery veneer if you bothered to look.
By the mid show mark, the corporate world of the FL has collapsed due to the shenanigans of a revenge plot. However, while it was presented to us as a surprise twist, it was telegraphed to us earlier on. In a sense, it was a tell-tale sign of the writing. Almost everything about the show was very transparent and shallow. Lots of tropes were used and most characters were one dimensional. Some did play for laughs but the lack of depth was telling.
The wheel really came off when the FL played the noble idiot card around the 2/3 mark. Why writers insist that running away from someone who truly loved you is the best way to bring them happiness and peace. Really?! In this case, it was even worse as a child was involved. As other reviewers have mentioned, she could have simply accompanied the ML overseas but that would be too logical.
Then the magical unicorn joined the cast. There was a SIX years time skip and the show basically used a 5 year old boy as the Deus Ex Machina to reset the show. Sunshine and happiness returned to the blighted land and we rejoiced!
However, there was little character development in the mean time and nothing was really addressed. In fact, the show basically spent the first episode after the time skip to berate the FL (via her friends and family) for being a noble idiot. If it was such a bad idea then why use it as a plot device? When you consider the script even had the ML telling the FL upon their reunion that he didn't change his phone number for 6 years and she pointedly said that she didn't either then why didn't they just call as they were obviously still pining for each other. Not only the OTP had a reset, the 2OTP (the author) had a reset and started their courtship again when nothing happened for 6 years?! The 3OTP pairing (the actress) was a waste of time.
Honestly, the last 10 episodes were done like a string of scenes designed to give us the feels or make us swoon but barely advanced the threadbare plot. It walked the same grounds of the earlier episodes. Sure, the little boy stole the show and the couple moments were sweet and the ML will make you swoon. It was so light that it could have lifted the Hindenburg. The revenge plot resurfaced briefly but it was poorly handled and strained credulity.
You'd either love this purely for the feels and sweet moments and ignore whatever else was going on and you will be happy. Or if you watch this with critical eyes then you will hate how the poor script was veneered over by "Mills and Boon" moments and ultimately leave you with a hollow feeling. Maybe re-watch the last few episodes if you needed a sugar hit.
The show started well and promisingly. It wore the rom-com tag with pride and it left the viewer with little doubt that the show was light-hearted and fluffy. The OST is full of happy little tunes and zany sound effects to help us to spot any double entendre. The writer flipped the usual marriage contract trope and made the FL the instigator and she was smart, head strong as well as the powerful CEO of a large corporation. The ML was a sweet, gentle soul in contrast. There was good chemistry between the OTP but it was not without issues. The meet-cute was good and the pace was cracking in the first few episodes. However, once the show started to go on rails then the weak story telling began to show. One such issues was an odd tonal misalignment. As I mentioned before, the show took its rom-com root seriously. It seemed hellbent on being funny and light hearted even though when you look at the themes that were touched upon it was anything but. There was PTSD, unrequited love, one sided crush, obsession, revenge and stalking, etc . They are hardly trivial matters but the show muted their impact. You can feel an unease and a discord building under the cheery veneer if you bothered to look.
By the mid show mark, the corporate world of the FL has collapsed due to the shenanigans of a revenge plot. However, while it was presented to us as a surprise twist, it was telegraphed to us earlier on. In a sense, it was a tell-tale sign of the writing. Almost everything about the show was very transparent and shallow. Lots of tropes were used and most characters were one dimensional. Some did play for laughs but the lack of depth was telling.
The wheel really came off when the FL played the noble idiot card around the 2/3 mark. Why writers insist that running away from someone who truly loved you is the best way to bring them happiness and peace. Really?! In this case, it was even worse as a child was involved. As other reviewers have mentioned, she could have simply accompanied the ML overseas but that would be too logical.
Then the magical unicorn joined the cast. There was a SIX years time skip and the show basically used a 5 year old boy as the Deus Ex Machina to reset the show. Sunshine and happiness returned to the blighted land and we rejoiced!
However, there was little character development in the mean time and nothing was really addressed. In fact, the show basically spent the first episode after the time skip to berate the FL (via her friends and family) for being a noble idiot. If it was such a bad idea then why use it as a plot device? When you consider the script even had the ML telling the FL upon their reunion that he didn't change his phone number for 6 years and she pointedly said that she didn't either then why didn't they just call as they were obviously still pining for each other. Not only the OTP had a reset, the 2OTP (the author) had a reset and started their courtship again when nothing happened for 6 years?! The 3OTP pairing (the actress) was a waste of time.
Honestly, the last 10 episodes were done like a string of scenes designed to give us the feels or make us swoon but barely advanced the threadbare plot. It walked the same grounds of the earlier episodes. Sure, the little boy stole the show and the couple moments were sweet and the ML will make you swoon. It was so light that it could have lifted the Hindenburg. The revenge plot resurfaced briefly but it was poorly handled and strained credulity.
You'd either love this purely for the feels and sweet moments and ignore whatever else was going on and you will be happy. Or if you watch this with critical eyes then you will hate how the poor script was veneered over by "Mills and Boon" moments and ultimately leave you with a hollow feeling. Maybe re-watch the last few episodes if you needed a sugar hit.
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