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jojoce

South Africa

jojoce

South Africa
The Miracle of Teddy Bear thai drama review
Completed
The Miracle of Teddy Bear
4 people found this review helpful
by jojoce
May 4, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 6.0
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

How to create a Greek tragedy in 16 steps OR JK! We're still homophobes.

Everything about this show is almost flawless.
The photography is fantastic, the storytelling progresses well.
Editing and styling wise this is a beautiful show.

But, and this is a massive issue with the show, they try to downplay some very dark themes of as cute.
Anyone that has had some serious trauma in their life should stay far from this show. It will mess you up.

The show needs so many trigger warnings! It checks all the boxes. We have assault, homophobia, murder, familial violence and finally the big one. Suicide.

The marketing for this show was done wrong.
Even the poster implies a different ending. There is no Tarn in sight.
This should never have been a gay romance, instead it should just have been a statement on Thai society, period.
The love story between Tofu and Nut should never have been explored.

Tofu is in my opinion the only main character, anyone else is secondary.
We get to know each character as Tofu breaks the fourth wall and tells their stories.
We cry with him, sympathize with him. Get our hearts broken with him.

But then this show does the unthinkable, it leaves the main Character with no choice but to commit suicide.

It does not give him room to move, it does not give the viewer any respite from the fact that this character needs to die.

Although a lot of people does not see his actions as suicide, the fact the he KNOWINGLY does something with the intend to die is the definition of suicide.

None of the previous fifteen episodes with all its violence and dark themes prepares you for the writer's need to change the lovable teddy bear into a martyr.

We then have the show glorify this character's death as heroic, and it has the audacity to think that the character we grow to love is nothing but an inanimate object anyway so what's the problem?

We are treated to social commentary and themes of recovery but this all gets nullified by the choice the writer forces on the character.

According to the director, Tofu is 'other' and 'lesser'. The director's even goes so far as to say he should not exist, and this is why he cannot be with Nut, Tarn is the end goal because he is human.

This is a contradiction to the series theme and message.

It is the way LGBT people are seen and made to feel, and to have Tofu actually die out of a sense of guilt is not what the show is trying to tell for 15 episodes.

Be warned, this is a dark show. It is not fluffy, it pretends to be, but it spirals into darkness in the last few episodes and though it tries to get away with a cute ending, it cannot get away from the fact that none of it's characters will ever recover from the trauma dealt to them.

You cannot get away with Nut's character going through so much trauma in his life, that he will eventually recover.
He cannot, he is left with the knowledge that Tofu was signaling him that he was going to die.
The show doubles down on this when they bring Tofu back as a sentient Teddy Bear again.

And ye gads! They actually include a scene that is more at home in a horror movie, and try to play it of as cute.

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