3
5
jpny01
Had promise but was disappointing.
I'll start with the bad and end on a positive note.
For this short a series, it took a little long to get into the meat of the story, which resulted in a rushed ending, which was insufficiently prepared and too abrupt. I don't mean the last 10 seconds (more on that below), I mean the behavior of Jack leading up to that. The ending twist was totally unprepared - there is no hint of it prior to it happening, so it comes off as a cheap trick rather than as an interesting plot development. It actual severs my interest in any further development of the story rather than generating it.
Jack's sudden change of personality at the end would have made sense it had been properly set up - but it wasn't, and he just turned into a dick, plus what Jack tells the person on the phone to do makes absolutely no sense - nobody would do that, they would just leave. This was a very clumsy setup for the last 10 seconds. Likewise, Jill's physical reaction to Jack's dickishness seemed a bit out of character. It didn't bother me on a moral level, but it was a bit abrupt for his character, who has been kind of pathetic up to this point.
Which brings me to Jill's character, which is so insecure and pathetic that it's very difficult to believe Jack would have any interest in the situation. Some insecurity can indeed be cute, but not an immature and clingy mess like Jill - especially in Jack's circumstances, I just didn't buy it. Maybe Mateo wasn't up to the task of making his character sympathetic, but I'm not sure many actors could have. ZK played his archetype to a tee, but that's still not a sympathetic character unless his arc makes him a good guy by the end. The result is I have no investment in this couple and think they don't belong together and are better off never seeing each other again. Also, if Jill knows the third character, apparently reasonably well, do they really have no social media connection?
Dramatically, to have Jack's transformation into an asshole AND the twist was too much. It should have been one or the other - having both sent the whole thing crashing to the ground and wiped out any of the themes this was trying to explore.
On the positive side, the production quality is probably the highest I've seen in a DYI production like this. The cinematography is good, the editing is disciplined, the sound is mercifully good, the subtitles were timely and well-written, The acting is good - I'm not as sure about Mateo, but he didn't have much room to shine playing a dud like his character. He certainly wasn't embarassing or cringy to watch. I think we've all had a Jack enter our lives at some point and ZK was perfect in the role, and on a shallow note, has one of the hottest bodies I've ever seen and is generous in showing it off.
Story: 4 - I would probably have given this a higher rating if not for Ep 8, which really ruined it for me.
Acting: 7 - This was pretty good, but I didn't really feel the Jill character, and neither actor got a chance to show much range due to the brevity of the series and the narrative issues.
Music: 8 - It was good. Not overpowering, not too repetitive, and fit the scenes rather than using the series to showcase someone's OST.
Rewatch Value: 3 - I wouldn't rewatch this, but I might revisit all the ZK shirtless scenes. (I'm shallow.)
Overall: 6.5 - I would have given this a 7.5 or 8 if it hadn't been for the last ep.
For this short a series, it took a little long to get into the meat of the story, which resulted in a rushed ending, which was insufficiently prepared and too abrupt. I don't mean the last 10 seconds (more on that below), I mean the behavior of Jack leading up to that. The ending twist was totally unprepared - there is no hint of it prior to it happening, so it comes off as a cheap trick rather than as an interesting plot development. It actual severs my interest in any further development of the story rather than generating it.
Jack's sudden change of personality at the end would have made sense it had been properly set up - but it wasn't, and he just turned into a dick, plus what Jack tells the person on the phone to do makes absolutely no sense - nobody would do that, they would just leave. This was a very clumsy setup for the last 10 seconds. Likewise, Jill's physical reaction to Jack's dickishness seemed a bit out of character. It didn't bother me on a moral level, but it was a bit abrupt for his character, who has been kind of pathetic up to this point.
Which brings me to Jill's character, which is so insecure and pathetic that it's very difficult to believe Jack would have any interest in the situation. Some insecurity can indeed be cute, but not an immature and clingy mess like Jill - especially in Jack's circumstances, I just didn't buy it. Maybe Mateo wasn't up to the task of making his character sympathetic, but I'm not sure many actors could have. ZK played his archetype to a tee, but that's still not a sympathetic character unless his arc makes him a good guy by the end. The result is I have no investment in this couple and think they don't belong together and are better off never seeing each other again. Also, if Jill knows the third character, apparently reasonably well, do they really have no social media connection?
Dramatically, to have Jack's transformation into an asshole AND the twist was too much. It should have been one or the other - having both sent the whole thing crashing to the ground and wiped out any of the themes this was trying to explore.
On the positive side, the production quality is probably the highest I've seen in a DYI production like this. The cinematography is good, the editing is disciplined, the sound is mercifully good, the subtitles were timely and well-written, The acting is good - I'm not as sure about Mateo, but he didn't have much room to shine playing a dud like his character. He certainly wasn't embarassing or cringy to watch. I think we've all had a Jack enter our lives at some point and ZK was perfect in the role, and on a shallow note, has one of the hottest bodies I've ever seen and is generous in showing it off.
Story: 4 - I would probably have given this a higher rating if not for Ep 8, which really ruined it for me.
Acting: 7 - This was pretty good, but I didn't really feel the Jill character, and neither actor got a chance to show much range due to the brevity of the series and the narrative issues.
Music: 8 - It was good. Not overpowering, not too repetitive, and fit the scenes rather than using the series to showcase someone's OST.
Rewatch Value: 3 - I wouldn't rewatch this, but I might revisit all the ZK shirtless scenes. (I'm shallow.)
Overall: 6.5 - I would have given this a 7.5 or 8 if it hadn't been for the last ep.
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