3
5
jpny01
It's not good, but not the worst, either.
This is a tough one to review. I'll start with negatives and end on positives.
- There are too many characters. None of the story arcs get enough time to be developed, and many of them are just abandoned. This is very unsatisfying. If it had been 6 interns, it might have worked better.
- It might be my Western outlook (being sorry is not enough - accountability for one's actions means accepting the consequences, like being fired for framing other employees and bribery), but it's profoundly disturbing when characters are the most horrible people in the world for 11 episodes, then suddenly feel bad at the end and are totally forgiven and get pretty much everything as a reward. Even if you can accept that morally, it's exceptionally unsatisfying plot-wise. You want the good people who suffer to come out on top, not the horrible people who spent the whole series tearing everyone around them down - we're not talking slightly bad, we're talking seriously malicious.
- Since there are 8 male characters and only 2 horrible and evil female characters, it would have made more sense to make this a BL. You could have two of the 8 be straight and 6 paired off. Why would you not just have Kim & Copter get together? Or Tae & Tee? Or alternatively Tae & Bas? Only Tee has anything to do with a female character, in a rather pointless storyline that goes nowhere.
- I don't know if any BL writers have ever had a regular job, but the Thai management style according to dramas is horrible and counterproductive. That hotel would fail in weeks with that level of incompetent management. Bosses bully and arbitrarily punish people. It gets really old in this series.
Positives:
- Tae is a really good actor. In Ep 10 he has an opportunity to show what he can do, and it's first-rate. He's playing off a very good actress, which always helps, but I haven't cried that much in a long time, and he's powerful yet fairly subtle and restrained, given what's going on. It felt appropriate and real. He's the standout throughout the series. The acting in general is pretty good. Most of it is not terribly inspired, but none of it is embarassing - that's typical of Thai series, which thankfully almost never stray into overacting.
- The BL couple is really cute. Kay is adorable and Pleum is really, really attractive. They don't have much screen time and their relationship is insufficiently developed, but it's not bad for the time given it, and there's no mannequin kiss - it's one of the best we've gotten, and would have been a strong conclusion if they had been a focus of the story with better buildup.
All in all, I can't recommend it. You might skim through ep 1-9 for the BL couple and Tae, then watch ep 10 & 11, then don't watch ep 12 if you don't want to be upset.
Story: 3 - it's a mess, and whoever wrote it doesn't seem to have known where the story was going as it was being written.
Acting: 8.5 - It's really more like a 7, but Tae drags the average up with his 10 performance.
Music: 7 - not memorable and not in the way.
Rewatch: 3 - I'm shallow and I would probably rewatch Pleum's scenes, in many of which he's wearing a skimpy muscle shirt. He has a hot body and I'm shallow. He's handsome and charming, too.
Overal: 6.5 - The suggested score is 5.5, but that seems a little too harsh - there are some nice things in here.
- There are too many characters. None of the story arcs get enough time to be developed, and many of them are just abandoned. This is very unsatisfying. If it had been 6 interns, it might have worked better.
- It might be my Western outlook (being sorry is not enough - accountability for one's actions means accepting the consequences, like being fired for framing other employees and bribery), but it's profoundly disturbing when characters are the most horrible people in the world for 11 episodes, then suddenly feel bad at the end and are totally forgiven and get pretty much everything as a reward. Even if you can accept that morally, it's exceptionally unsatisfying plot-wise. You want the good people who suffer to come out on top, not the horrible people who spent the whole series tearing everyone around them down - we're not talking slightly bad, we're talking seriously malicious.
- Since there are 8 male characters and only 2 horrible and evil female characters, it would have made more sense to make this a BL. You could have two of the 8 be straight and 6 paired off. Why would you not just have Kim & Copter get together? Or Tae & Tee? Or alternatively Tae & Bas? Only Tee has anything to do with a female character, in a rather pointless storyline that goes nowhere.
- I don't know if any BL writers have ever had a regular job, but the Thai management style according to dramas is horrible and counterproductive. That hotel would fail in weeks with that level of incompetent management. Bosses bully and arbitrarily punish people. It gets really old in this series.
Positives:
- Tae is a really good actor. In Ep 10 he has an opportunity to show what he can do, and it's first-rate. He's playing off a very good actress, which always helps, but I haven't cried that much in a long time, and he's powerful yet fairly subtle and restrained, given what's going on. It felt appropriate and real. He's the standout throughout the series. The acting in general is pretty good. Most of it is not terribly inspired, but none of it is embarassing - that's typical of Thai series, which thankfully almost never stray into overacting.
- The BL couple is really cute. Kay is adorable and Pleum is really, really attractive. They don't have much screen time and their relationship is insufficiently developed, but it's not bad for the time given it, and there's no mannequin kiss - it's one of the best we've gotten, and would have been a strong conclusion if they had been a focus of the story with better buildup.
All in all, I can't recommend it. You might skim through ep 1-9 for the BL couple and Tae, then watch ep 10 & 11, then don't watch ep 12 if you don't want to be upset.
Story: 3 - it's a mess, and whoever wrote it doesn't seem to have known where the story was going as it was being written.
Acting: 8.5 - It's really more like a 7, but Tae drags the average up with his 10 performance.
Music: 7 - not memorable and not in the way.
Rewatch: 3 - I'm shallow and I would probably rewatch Pleum's scenes, in many of which he's wearing a skimpy muscle shirt. He has a hot body and I'm shallow. He's handsome and charming, too.
Overal: 6.5 - The suggested score is 5.5, but that seems a little too harsh - there are some nice things in here.
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