j729
This review may contain spoilers
Good story, but a few baffling things later in the series.
Overall this was easy to watch, and not too serious nor too silly. I liked it, but it wasn't as good as other recent series like Tale of a Thousand Stars, Bad Buddy, or 55:15. It was closer to Golden Blood or Call it What You Want, and much better than What the Duck2 or Ghost Runner. The first few episodes are terrific, but later it is just good, not great. I think it is worth watching.
The good:
No engineers or college students, nobody dies (no truck of death), and there aren't many of the usual tropes. The acting is great in general. Yacht does a good job and this is opposite most (all?) his previous roles. Tae's facial expressions are everything, and not something I am used to seeing in Thai dramas. And when did Tae get to be so hot? Or maybe I just wasn't paying attention to him in his other roles? The supporting cast was great, I liked seeing Gun Korawit, C'game, Mild and Bruce. Gun played a role quite different than in his (annoying but cute) 2gether role of Green.
The bad:
The story was great for the first 3/4 or more. And then the episode 9-10 curse hit. There was a misunderstanding about Nueng that ballooned out of control, and caused hurt feelings for both couples. And it is baffling because they established way back in an early episode that Nueng was Maze's stepbrother. Maybe I am assuming something here as I don't speak Thai, but maybe the way they use brother with ('P or Nong) with different meanings (sibling vs polite title for others your age) caused this confusion? In any case, this drug on for way too long, and took away from other content that could have been more positive and fluffy.
In a related item, why couldn't Nueng come clean with his feelings for Tharn instead of waiting for Tharn to confess first? Obviously Tharn wasn't ready to instigate, and Nueng didn't seem to be shy in general. That whole thing was a bit bizarre.
The neutral:
I have mixed feelings about Singto in this role. He is a great actor, and I love almost everything he has been in. I just am not sure he was the angry executive type. I could believe him to be fastidious or to be very rigid in his daily routines, maybe they should have played that aspect up more. But when he starts ordering people around and being nasty, it isn't quite as believable. Singto seems to do better with emotional roles, or more shy roles, and that is because it is probably closer to his real life personality. The pairing with Tae is good, I think Singto needs a strong personality to counteract his softer, quieter one which Tae provides.
They could have spent more time in the last couple episodes about the couple's relationships instead of some of the side plots and other filler material. Not sure if that is an editing decision, or just a shortcoming of the story?
The side plot of Kuea and Elle relationship was mostly filler in my opinion. It didn't add or detract from the story, and maybe that is the problem. Why have that romance if they didn't add anything to the outcome? The actors did a good job, but it didn't help advance the main plot much if at all.
They also could have left out or changed the Pookky getting beat up storyline. If they would have rewritten that to expose her greed and evil in a different way, I think it would have come across better. Like have all her clients fire her, and show how she was extorting everyone. Or let her "dig her own grave" so to speak, let karma take hold where she accidentally shows everyone how bad she really is.
The good:
No engineers or college students, nobody dies (no truck of death), and there aren't many of the usual tropes. The acting is great in general. Yacht does a good job and this is opposite most (all?) his previous roles. Tae's facial expressions are everything, and not something I am used to seeing in Thai dramas. And when did Tae get to be so hot? Or maybe I just wasn't paying attention to him in his other roles? The supporting cast was great, I liked seeing Gun Korawit, C'game, Mild and Bruce. Gun played a role quite different than in his (annoying but cute) 2gether role of Green.
The bad:
The story was great for the first 3/4 or more. And then the episode 9-10 curse hit. There was a misunderstanding about Nueng that ballooned out of control, and caused hurt feelings for both couples. And it is baffling because they established way back in an early episode that Nueng was Maze's stepbrother. Maybe I am assuming something here as I don't speak Thai, but maybe the way they use brother with ('P or Nong) with different meanings (sibling vs polite title for others your age) caused this confusion? In any case, this drug on for way too long, and took away from other content that could have been more positive and fluffy.
In a related item, why couldn't Nueng come clean with his feelings for Tharn instead of waiting for Tharn to confess first? Obviously Tharn wasn't ready to instigate, and Nueng didn't seem to be shy in general. That whole thing was a bit bizarre.
The neutral:
I have mixed feelings about Singto in this role. He is a great actor, and I love almost everything he has been in. I just am not sure he was the angry executive type. I could believe him to be fastidious or to be very rigid in his daily routines, maybe they should have played that aspect up more. But when he starts ordering people around and being nasty, it isn't quite as believable. Singto seems to do better with emotional roles, or more shy roles, and that is because it is probably closer to his real life personality. The pairing with Tae is good, I think Singto needs a strong personality to counteract his softer, quieter one which Tae provides.
They could have spent more time in the last couple episodes about the couple's relationships instead of some of the side plots and other filler material. Not sure if that is an editing decision, or just a shortcoming of the story?
The side plot of Kuea and Elle relationship was mostly filler in my opinion. It didn't add or detract from the story, and maybe that is the problem. Why have that romance if they didn't add anything to the outcome? The actors did a good job, but it didn't help advance the main plot much if at all.
They also could have left out or changed the Pookky getting beat up storyline. If they would have rewritten that to expose her greed and evil in a different way, I think it would have come across better. Like have all her clients fire her, and show how she was extorting everyone. Or let her "dig her own grave" so to speak, let karma take hold where she accidentally shows everyone how bad she really is.
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