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Nitiman thai drama review
Completed
Nitiman
2 people found this review helpful
by cdvmty
Jul 9, 2021
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 7.5
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.5
This review may contain spoilers

Some good and some bad

Again, another low to mid-budget series with some familiar faces and some new ones that is slightly above the mediocre GMMTV BL series we've seen lately ("Tonhon Chonlatee" and "Fish Upon the Sky") and is waaay above the disasters that other series have been ("Y-Destiny", "Close Friend" or "Love by Chance Season 2") but because of the low budget and somewhat inexperienced actors, it falls well below the quality standards we've seen from other shows ("Tale of 1,000 Stars", "I Told Sunset About You", "Gameboys", and "Gaya Sa Pelikula").

Some thoughts that have some good and some bad:
1. Jom and Noh are the lead roles playing the characters of Jin and Bbomb and their chemistry is nice but Noh is making his debut and comes from Lao so it feels like he needs a bit more time to fully adapt to Thai TV and deliver some of his lines with a bit more emotion and less stiffness. Jom apparently was a guest in "Tonhon Chonlatee" but the series was so mediocre I really don't remember him being there, he also needs a bit more acting lessons to improve, but overall the lead couple was a bit dull sometimes but charming, so there is room for improvement.

2. The support roles had ups and downs with Kaownah and Turbo exciting everybody with their roles thinking they were going to be a secondary couple, and while they implicitly are, nothing really develops between them with Kaownah (playing Song) is basically having the role of a comedian during the show and Turbo (playing Jay) is the nerdy and quiet type. Both have been officially selected as the leads for the upcoming Thai version of the Japanese manga "Love Stage" who was then brought as anime and then as a Japanese movie as well. We'll see how well they can portray the characters in that one.

3. Some of the familiar faces continue with Bhu playing Jack in the totally opposite role of his character in "Manner of Death". Now we see a playful Bhu trying to conquer cute girls instead of dodging bullets and being a gangster, so that's a nice change for us to see his acting skills. And then we get the two Bosses, Boss Thawatchanin (who can be seen in the recently finished "Hidden Love") playing Tong and Boss Thanabat (who we saw in "Oxygen") as Mark, both are seniors and don't have many lines but Boss Thanabat becomes a potential obstacle in the Jin-Bbomb relationship. The rest of the cast has some funny moments, sadly, most are wasted with very boring subplots and lack of interesting things to do other than play matchmaker with Jin-Bbomb, play soccer/basketball, play some music, and study.

4. This leads me to the writing/directing. It feels like the story needed twists/plots or something but they could not really find one. The series was announced as having 12 episodes but it ended after 10 so it was misinformed or they had some issues with the story or sponsors and had to shorten the series. However, I think it reached its limit, so 10 episodes were ok as Jin and Bbomb really did the same thing most episodes... plenty of misunderstandings, some tears, and lots of arguing then they will make up with corny phrases or acting cute only to repeat the same cycle in the next episode. Their relationship had one step forward, two steps back, then 3 forward, 2 back, etc., it was never a steady progression of them developing their feelings because Bbomb liked Jin from the very beginning and Jin had issues all the time and couldn't decide.

5. This takes me back to the writing and support actors. From watching episode 10, I get that Aim knew Bbomb liked Jin but as she says at some point, Bbomb didn't stop her from liking Jin, didn't pursue Jin and didn't stop Jin from developing feelings for Aim so it was only after they broke up when he said something to Jin. However, it seemed like everyone was just there to plot how to bring Jin and Bbomb together orchestrated by Aim, Jin's friends, Bbomb's friends and even Mark who just pretended to like Jin to make Bbomb jealous. I felt a bit confused trying to understand who was involved in this matchmaking process and what roles each character played in it. And because when someone tried something, it ended up with Jin and Bbomb fighting again... so while I appreciate the change of some of the typical Thai BL clichés and storylines, it wasn't executed in the best possible way.

6. Bbomb's mother had a nice moment on episode 10, when she acts all cold towards Jin only for her to prank him when he confesses he is dating her son because she already knew that. She then has a nice moment with Jin, accepting their relationship and letting both know that Bbomb is old and mature enough to make his own decisions and as long as he is happy, she is happy as well. That was a nice moment of parental support some BLs lack but it didn't fit with the overall feel of the story because no parents were shown until this episode.

In the end, the series had some good and some bad moments and if there is a season 2, plenty needs to be improved... but there is hope for Nitiman in case the series comes back.
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