mcdonaldstogo
The physical manifestation "if you vibe you vibe, if you don't you don't" straight out of an ao3 fic
I will begin by saying that this is the kind of show you have to watch on your own time, and form your own opinion. You can tell whether you'll love or hate it within the first maybe 3 episodes. If you are not vibing with the show by that point, save yourself the misery. It took me 3-4 episodes to be like, okay yeah, let's get into it. But not everyone vibes with it, and that is okay.
I loved it even though it's not the kind of genre I usually watch. Based on story only, this show deserves maybe a 8 or 8.5. The ending left a lot of open ends/plotholes (?) that look like a set up for season 2. Hopefully, they address those. But as to how why I've given it a 10:
1) the acting: the cast ate DOWN. all the acting performances are fucking phenomenal, especially mile, apo, bible, tong and jeff. Not one bad thing can be said about the acting. Just. *chefs kiss.*
2) amazing, human, morally grey characters: if you love a big cast with great mcs and loveable side characters, you'll love this show. The characters carried this and that is primarily why it is a 10. There is a whole round up of complex, layered characters to choose from, even if you don't like the story all that much. A lot of the criticism stems from "where is the mafia theme?" but the thing is, this show is mafia themed AND revolves around characters who are human before they are kill machines. That is why the show sometimes is funny, or sad, or not Criminal Enough. I personally was okay with that. More than okay with that. They balanced the mafia themes with everyone's (grey moral) humanity quite well. If it was just guns and sex for the sake of guns and sex, it would not make a good show.
2) something for everyone: there are three ships that are so tonally different that sometimes it looks like three separate shows. Some people take issue with that and that's fine. Personally the tonal shifts didn't bother me, and I was pretty invested in all the ships because I liked the dynamics of all three ships. I was never bored with any of the ships, but again, that comes down to personal preference.
3) cinematography and OST: just. gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous show. Good songs and background scores too. They played around with a lot of colours for symbolism as well. Just gorgeous.
4) tender queerness: people keep saying this is fetishiser bait and a "porn show" but that is one thing that is a hard lie, at least in my opinion. In my opinion 1) there are really not that many sex scenes as people would lead you to believe, and 2) as a queer man, Kinn and Porsche are just queer men in love, and none of their kisses or NC scenes feel forced or put there just for the sake of appeasing fetishiser gaze. Every scene has meaning, is gorgeous and adds to the plot. Calling it a porn show, and acting like it has no overarching plot is a disservice and an insult.
Heed all the trigger warnings though: dubcon, violence, guns, gore, violence, manipulation, torture, abuse.
I'm trying to keep this as spoiler-free as possible so this is all I'll say: watch it yourself and form your own opinion. It's definitely the kind of show that is not for everybody, but if it hits, it hits. And it hits Hard. Is it a perfect show? No. I did take some issue with some of the editing and there are decisions the characters made that I was like "why did you do that lol." Sometimes I had to turn my brain off to understand some decisions, particularly Porsche's. I would like some story explained and plot revealed and resolved, esp around the character of Kim. But it is a good show. A great show. It is hilarious, it is tragic, it is queer and most of all, it is entertaining and a good time, if nothing else.
I loved it even though it's not the kind of genre I usually watch. Based on story only, this show deserves maybe a 8 or 8.5. The ending left a lot of open ends/plotholes (?) that look like a set up for season 2. Hopefully, they address those. But as to how why I've given it a 10:
1) the acting: the cast ate DOWN. all the acting performances are fucking phenomenal, especially mile, apo, bible, tong and jeff. Not one bad thing can be said about the acting. Just. *chefs kiss.*
2) amazing, human, morally grey characters: if you love a big cast with great mcs and loveable side characters, you'll love this show. The characters carried this and that is primarily why it is a 10. There is a whole round up of complex, layered characters to choose from, even if you don't like the story all that much. A lot of the criticism stems from "where is the mafia theme?" but the thing is, this show is mafia themed AND revolves around characters who are human before they are kill machines. That is why the show sometimes is funny, or sad, or not Criminal Enough. I personally was okay with that. More than okay with that. They balanced the mafia themes with everyone's (grey moral) humanity quite well. If it was just guns and sex for the sake of guns and sex, it would not make a good show.
2) something for everyone: there are three ships that are so tonally different that sometimes it looks like three separate shows. Some people take issue with that and that's fine. Personally the tonal shifts didn't bother me, and I was pretty invested in all the ships because I liked the dynamics of all three ships. I was never bored with any of the ships, but again, that comes down to personal preference.
3) cinematography and OST: just. gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous show. Good songs and background scores too. They played around with a lot of colours for symbolism as well. Just gorgeous.
4) tender queerness: people keep saying this is fetishiser bait and a "porn show" but that is one thing that is a hard lie, at least in my opinion. In my opinion 1) there are really not that many sex scenes as people would lead you to believe, and 2) as a queer man, Kinn and Porsche are just queer men in love, and none of their kisses or NC scenes feel forced or put there just for the sake of appeasing fetishiser gaze. Every scene has meaning, is gorgeous and adds to the plot. Calling it a porn show, and acting like it has no overarching plot is a disservice and an insult.
Heed all the trigger warnings though: dubcon, violence, guns, gore, violence, manipulation, torture, abuse.
I'm trying to keep this as spoiler-free as possible so this is all I'll say: watch it yourself and form your own opinion. It's definitely the kind of show that is not for everybody, but if it hits, it hits. And it hits Hard. Is it a perfect show? No. I did take some issue with some of the editing and there are decisions the characters made that I was like "why did you do that lol." Sometimes I had to turn my brain off to understand some decisions, particularly Porsche's. I would like some story explained and plot revealed and resolved, esp around the character of Kim. But it is a good show. A great show. It is hilarious, it is tragic, it is queer and most of all, it is entertaining and a good time, if nothing else.
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