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labcat
This review may contain spoilers
Fascinating in its individual parts, but frustrating to piece together as a whole
What starts off as somewhat conventional horror becomes a mixed-genre story that gets increasingly far-fetched. I can't decide whether to give credit to the creators of this series for daring to try something like that or to lambaste them for going more than a little too far in merging paranormal elements with parallel-universe concepts.
What I did enjoy a lot was the bit of BL in the story. I'm not just talking about the ambiguous relationship between the main characters, which may be interpreted as "bromance" of sorts but increasingly becomes like one of those censored BLs from China (where you kind of know that the characters are in love even though it's not said). There is really a BL couple fairly late in the series (Tum and Phone), and I'm glad that despite the loose threads and plot holes in the story, there is some effort to give closure to their story.
Some of the individual subplots are actually quite decent. Sometimes, the series even manages to inject palpable pathos into the characters, such as in the subplot involving Ton (played by Nanon). However, perhaps the writers should have kept the plot simple. When it tries to merge sci-fi, paranormal, mystery and horror, it turns out confusing rather than intriguing. At times, one feels like yelling at the scriptwriters: "Just tell us who these characters are already!" Who the hell are the different characters played by Gun Atthaphan: Dome, Chan, The One? And then we have characters dying and coming back to life ... because of some dark forces at work? ... because of "faith"??? (what faith could they have if they are dead?)
Interestingly, the series gets into all sorts of messy entanglements without being unwatchable. We can kind of follow that A, B, C, D and E and happening even though we can't really see A, B, C, D and E forming a coherent whole and even though we might find ourselves wonder how A, B, C, D and E can even be happening. The cliffhanger after the closing credits in Episode 10 also leaves one with the impression that there isn't a serious attempt to tell a coherent story. What we have is a weird pastiche of narrative devices that serve to bait viewers. This has sustained the series for 10 episodes, but is it sustainable for another season?
What I did enjoy a lot was the bit of BL in the story. I'm not just talking about the ambiguous relationship between the main characters, which may be interpreted as "bromance" of sorts but increasingly becomes like one of those censored BLs from China (where you kind of know that the characters are in love even though it's not said). There is really a BL couple fairly late in the series (Tum and Phone), and I'm glad that despite the loose threads and plot holes in the story, there is some effort to give closure to their story.
Some of the individual subplots are actually quite decent. Sometimes, the series even manages to inject palpable pathos into the characters, such as in the subplot involving Ton (played by Nanon). However, perhaps the writers should have kept the plot simple. When it tries to merge sci-fi, paranormal, mystery and horror, it turns out confusing rather than intriguing. At times, one feels like yelling at the scriptwriters: "Just tell us who these characters are already!" Who the hell are the different characters played by Gun Atthaphan: Dome, Chan, The One? And then we have characters dying and coming back to life ... because of some dark forces at work? ... because of "faith"??? (what faith could they have if they are dead?)
Interestingly, the series gets into all sorts of messy entanglements without being unwatchable. We can kind of follow that A, B, C, D and E and happening even though we can't really see A, B, C, D and E forming a coherent whole and even though we might find ourselves wonder how A, B, C, D and E can even be happening. The cliffhanger after the closing credits in Episode 10 also leaves one with the impression that there isn't a serious attempt to tell a coherent story. What we have is a weird pastiche of narrative devices that serve to bait viewers. This has sustained the series for 10 episodes, but is it sustainable for another season?
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