This review may contain spoilers
I Have A Theory, This Drama Kind Of Sucks
I decided to watch this because I really enjoyed Off and Gun in Not Me and I've also really enjoyed Earth's acting in dramas I've seen him in. But as much as I liked Not Me, Theory of Love really didn't do it for me. The conflicts just kept dragging on and on, back and forth, and it got really tiring after a while. I wanted to see the characters settle into their relationship and have a chance to see that relationship grow and we really didn't get that which I found disappointing.
The story concept, while nothing new, was still promising. I liked how it revolved around different rom-coms. It was the execution and the characters that just didn't work for me. I get unrequited love, I've been there myself, it absolutely sucks. But Khai is such an unredeemable ass at the beginning that it didn't take me long to stop sympathizing with Third and thinking that he really did need to just over him because the few nice things he did really did not make up for the amount of mean/cruel acts he suffered at the hands of his supposed best friend. Also the repeated scenes of him standing in the shower fully clothed, I don't know what reaction they were going for with those, but they were awkward bordering on amusing. And then, of course, once Third finally gets of Khai, Khai realizes he's actually in love with Third and the cycle repeats with Khai pursuing Third and that turns into a whole other level of tedious with countless scenes of Third getting sulky and suspicious of Khai. On the one hand, I don't blame him, but I also feel like it was severely overplayed and the lengths he pushed Khai to show his love were a tad ridiculous. The ending was kind of cute, but also felt a bit abrupt? I'm not a big fan of time jump endings like that because I feel like it leaves a lot of questions unanswered of what's happened in the interim and where everyone is now in their lives and few, if any, of those questions really get answered. Ultimately though, I think what I struggled with the most was the why they fell in love with each other. For Khai, I can understand it more. The video was the catalyst for him realizing his feelings and Third has always been there for him, has always care for him, but for Third, I don't get it. Love at first sight, okay, sure. But there has to be more to it than that and with Khai being such a colossal jerk, I just don't see how he could have done enough nice things for Third to continue to love him for three years.
The side stories were not my favorites. I actually think I would have really liked Two and Un's story, but like with most Thai secondary couple side stories, it was just severely underdeveloped. I suspected that Un liked Two when he dragged him out of the pond and again when he asked Two to help him with his project, but then they just kind of abandoned them and there was nothing until you suddenly hear him telling P'Shane that he's heartbroken. And then he somehow knew where Two and his friends were there at the end so he could confess his love? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for them getting together, despite their somewhat nonsensical story, they had good chemistry and I liked them together, I just would have liked a better developed story. As for Bone and Paan, as much as I liked Bone's character, I was not a fan of their story, mostly I was not a fan of Paan because it was so obvious that Bone was into her and she did not shut that down and basically led him on. I'm also just not a fan of teacher/student relationships even when it is in a college setting and they're consenting adults. There's still a power discrepancy there that makes it questionable to me. I did admire Bone's conduct for the most part. Other than going in for a kiss when she was drunk, which was not okay, he did make sure to give Paan the information she needed so she could make an informed decision about her relationship with Gap. I was really glad that they did not end up together in the end and that it seems like he found someone better.
I liked the acting overall. Gun seems to possess the ability to slip into whatever character he's playing. His eyes are so expressive and while I certainly found Third to be incredibly annoying at times, Gun's ability to show his character's pain was spot on. Off naturally has a bit of a tough guy look, so portraying Khai as a jerk seemed to come pretty naturally. But I also felt he did well with the softer scenes. Like Gun, he was able to express a lot with just his eyes.
I really liked the OST. The music really fit the mood for each scene. I especially liked the piano pieces that were used for several scenes. The cinematography was fantastic. They did such a great job . I really liked that they used movie names as the title for each episode. I thought that was really creative and fun. As a side note, I also really liked that the characters were Film Majors. It was a nice departure from the typical Engineering/Medical majors in most BLs.
One of the biggest issues I had with this drama though was the way women were treated. There were so many comments made about women's bodies, objectifying them. Every comment was about how pretty she was or how big her breasts were or something along those lines. There was literally never anything positive said. And when it came to Khai, the way he went through women and how it was minimally addressed. Also, with the reputation he had, I can't imagine that many women being okay his treatment of them and willingly putting themselves into that situation. In any case, just the overall objectification of women in this drama left a very bad taste in my mouth.
Considering how popular this drama was and the lead actors in it, I was really excited to watch it and was hoping it would be a new favorite. Unfortunately, it just really didn't do it for me. I feel like it could have been so much more and had a lot of wasted potential. It wasn't a bad drama, but it wasn't a good one either. I think this is one you have to watch for yourself to see if you'll like it or not.
The story concept, while nothing new, was still promising. I liked how it revolved around different rom-coms. It was the execution and the characters that just didn't work for me. I get unrequited love, I've been there myself, it absolutely sucks. But Khai is such an unredeemable ass at the beginning that it didn't take me long to stop sympathizing with Third and thinking that he really did need to just over him because the few nice things he did really did not make up for the amount of mean/cruel acts he suffered at the hands of his supposed best friend. Also the repeated scenes of him standing in the shower fully clothed, I don't know what reaction they were going for with those, but they were awkward bordering on amusing. And then, of course, once Third finally gets of Khai, Khai realizes he's actually in love with Third and the cycle repeats with Khai pursuing Third and that turns into a whole other level of tedious with countless scenes of Third getting sulky and suspicious of Khai. On the one hand, I don't blame him, but I also feel like it was severely overplayed and the lengths he pushed Khai to show his love were a tad ridiculous. The ending was kind of cute, but also felt a bit abrupt? I'm not a big fan of time jump endings like that because I feel like it leaves a lot of questions unanswered of what's happened in the interim and where everyone is now in their lives and few, if any, of those questions really get answered. Ultimately though, I think what I struggled with the most was the why they fell in love with each other. For Khai, I can understand it more. The video was the catalyst for him realizing his feelings and Third has always been there for him, has always care for him, but for Third, I don't get it. Love at first sight, okay, sure. But there has to be more to it than that and with Khai being such a colossal jerk, I just don't see how he could have done enough nice things for Third to continue to love him for three years.
The side stories were not my favorites. I actually think I would have really liked Two and Un's story, but like with most Thai secondary couple side stories, it was just severely underdeveloped. I suspected that Un liked Two when he dragged him out of the pond and again when he asked Two to help him with his project, but then they just kind of abandoned them and there was nothing until you suddenly hear him telling P'Shane that he's heartbroken. And then he somehow knew where Two and his friends were there at the end so he could confess his love? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for them getting together, despite their somewhat nonsensical story, they had good chemistry and I liked them together, I just would have liked a better developed story. As for Bone and Paan, as much as I liked Bone's character, I was not a fan of their story, mostly I was not a fan of Paan because it was so obvious that Bone was into her and she did not shut that down and basically led him on. I'm also just not a fan of teacher/student relationships even when it is in a college setting and they're consenting adults. There's still a power discrepancy there that makes it questionable to me. I did admire Bone's conduct for the most part. Other than going in for a kiss when she was drunk, which was not okay, he did make sure to give Paan the information she needed so she could make an informed decision about her relationship with Gap. I was really glad that they did not end up together in the end and that it seems like he found someone better.
I liked the acting overall. Gun seems to possess the ability to slip into whatever character he's playing. His eyes are so expressive and while I certainly found Third to be incredibly annoying at times, Gun's ability to show his character's pain was spot on. Off naturally has a bit of a tough guy look, so portraying Khai as a jerk seemed to come pretty naturally. But I also felt he did well with the softer scenes. Like Gun, he was able to express a lot with just his eyes.
I really liked the OST. The music really fit the mood for each scene. I especially liked the piano pieces that were used for several scenes. The cinematography was fantastic. They did such a great job . I really liked that they used movie names as the title for each episode. I thought that was really creative and fun. As a side note, I also really liked that the characters were Film Majors. It was a nice departure from the typical Engineering/Medical majors in most BLs.
One of the biggest issues I had with this drama though was the way women were treated. There were so many comments made about women's bodies, objectifying them. Every comment was about how pretty she was or how big her breasts were or something along those lines. There was literally never anything positive said. And when it came to Khai, the way he went through women and how it was minimally addressed. Also, with the reputation he had, I can't imagine that many women being okay his treatment of them and willingly putting themselves into that situation. In any case, just the overall objectification of women in this drama left a very bad taste in my mouth.
Considering how popular this drama was and the lead actors in it, I was really excited to watch it and was hoping it would be a new favorite. Unfortunately, it just really didn't do it for me. I feel like it could have been so much more and had a lot of wasted potential. It wasn't a bad drama, but it wasn't a good one either. I think this is one you have to watch for yourself to see if you'll like it or not.
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