This review may contain spoilers
Can anyone else not form a solid opinion on Player?
I originally dropped it after finishing episode 7, but I recently forced myself to pick it back up and finish it solely for the sake of completion. One of my own fatal character flaws is that I love a toxic, angsty romance, so miscommunication is usually tolerable, but this series nearly did me in.
Storytelling and direction considered, it was well done. The characters were developed thoroughly enough that it made the series almost unbearable to watch. Ultimately, I think that is what leaves me so conflicted regarding my overall takeaway from the series: its ability to highlight some of the worst and most vulnerable parts of oneself--parts not entirely unlike my own--depicted in both Ploy and Pun simultaneously.
Ploy and Pun are so frustratingly layered. Their characters are despicable because, when you boil them down, they are really just two hurt individuals showcasing their fear of vulnerability in opposite ways. Objectively, they're unhealthy and horrible for each other, but to the trained--albeit unfortunately, through pattern recognition--eye, their intentions were never malicious. They were just acts of flawed self-preservation.
Ploy has a debilitating avoidant attachment style. Her fear of real intimacy drives her to the point of combative self-sabotage, hurting the one person she refuses to accept that she needs. She isn't comfortable with the intrusion of wanting something that isn't guaranteed or stable, so she mediates that urge with deflection and rejection. That way, the pain that she feels is self-inflicted, proof that she is the one in control of the situation.
Pun has a habit of wandering lost instead of asking for help, in fear of burdening the people in her life with what feels like endless missteps. She feels the need to bend and twist herself to be easier for others to stomach in order to keep the ones she cares about around, even if it means compromising her own feelings by making herself take up less space.
Watching them bounce off one another as they unraveled and devolved made this series skin-clawingly hellish to get through. Its impossible to root for their toxic attachment, yet it manages to make that attachment relatable in a way that makes you question how to feel about them. Though they might have been so awful for each other, the plot storyline outside of their relationship was genuinely so gripping, and the side couple was one you could actually root for.
Overall, it makes this series ??? to rate or rank; it's unbearable to get through, but at the same time, its so raw and real. So far, amidst the start of my GL journey, this is the only series to leave me completely lost on whether i like it or despise it by the end.
I've never felt compelled to write a review on here, not even for the series' I absolutely adore and could spend hours writing praise-filled think pieces on, but here we are. I feel insane. I feel confused. Do I hate this series? Maybe. Do I like this series? Maybe. Did I spend too much time and thought writing this to still not know? Entirely.
Player, they could never make me form a solid opinion on you...
Storytelling and direction considered, it was well done. The characters were developed thoroughly enough that it made the series almost unbearable to watch. Ultimately, I think that is what leaves me so conflicted regarding my overall takeaway from the series: its ability to highlight some of the worst and most vulnerable parts of oneself--parts not entirely unlike my own--depicted in both Ploy and Pun simultaneously.
Ploy and Pun are so frustratingly layered. Their characters are despicable because, when you boil them down, they are really just two hurt individuals showcasing their fear of vulnerability in opposite ways. Objectively, they're unhealthy and horrible for each other, but to the trained--albeit unfortunately, through pattern recognition--eye, their intentions were never malicious. They were just acts of flawed self-preservation.
Ploy has a debilitating avoidant attachment style. Her fear of real intimacy drives her to the point of combative self-sabotage, hurting the one person she refuses to accept that she needs. She isn't comfortable with the intrusion of wanting something that isn't guaranteed or stable, so she mediates that urge with deflection and rejection. That way, the pain that she feels is self-inflicted, proof that she is the one in control of the situation.
Pun has a habit of wandering lost instead of asking for help, in fear of burdening the people in her life with what feels like endless missteps. She feels the need to bend and twist herself to be easier for others to stomach in order to keep the ones she cares about around, even if it means compromising her own feelings by making herself take up less space.
Watching them bounce off one another as they unraveled and devolved made this series skin-clawingly hellish to get through. Its impossible to root for their toxic attachment, yet it manages to make that attachment relatable in a way that makes you question how to feel about them. Though they might have been so awful for each other, the plot storyline outside of their relationship was genuinely so gripping, and the side couple was one you could actually root for.
Overall, it makes this series ??? to rate or rank; it's unbearable to get through, but at the same time, its so raw and real. So far, amidst the start of my GL journey, this is the only series to leave me completely lost on whether i like it or despise it by the end.
I've never felt compelled to write a review on here, not even for the series' I absolutely adore and could spend hours writing praise-filled think pieces on, but here we are. I feel insane. I feel confused. Do I hate this series? Maybe. Do I like this series? Maybe. Did I spend too much time and thought writing this to still not know? Entirely.
Player, they could never make me form a solid opinion on you...
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