How To Turn A Crime Into A Romance...Badly

Watching the trailer for this drama, I got serious KinnPorsche vibes which, despite its own issues, I mostly enjoyed. What I imagined was a slightly dark, gritty, adult drama. What I got was a hot mess and not in a good way. Dark yes, but, again, not in a good way, actually very problematic. Not gritty and not adult, but your typical college BL with typical first world problems, an overpacked plot and very little substance. In short, a disappointment.

Let's start with the premise. Everything I read basically said that our two male leads get drunk and have a wild romantic night together. Yeah, not what happened. Yai gets jealous that Mangkorn is evidently vying for the affections of the same woman as him and more successfully at that, and decides to drug and rape him while video taping the whole thing in order to ruin him. Its a truly messed up and sadistic plan. The only hitch is that his bodyguard uses the wrong drug, I'm guessing some kind of aphrodisiac instead of the sedative that was intended, and drugs both drinks so they end up having sex on tape. Mangkorn takes the memory card and proceeds to use it to threaten Yai several times. And somehow, after all this, after making it quite clear how much they dislike each other, in an incredibly, unrealistically short amount of time, they've fallen madly in love. I understand shorter dramas make it necessary to speed things up, but this is borderline absurd. And this whole mess is portrayed as being hot and sexy when its in fact dangerous and criminal. Neither guy comes off looking good here, they're both morally corrupt characters, but Yai is definitely the worst and his behaviour and what he tried to do is really never addressed.

But then there's more. Mangkorn, a fifth year architect student, has apparently been in love with Yai since their first year. Besides the fact that absolutely nothing he does or says gives any inkling that he has romantic feelings for Yai prior to their drugged intercourse, he honestly treats him with derision and contempt for the most part, this is the man who is seen routinely hooking up with and casually flirting with women. So maybe he's bisexual? Both men actually since they're both seen with women. That would have been refreshing. But no, it's never addressed, and they both just suddenly stop being attracted to women apparently which goes into the whole "only gay for you trope" which is problematic in and of itself.

And speaking of women, they seriously did them dirty in this drama. I was so excited watching the trailer that it looked like there was going to be a lesbian couple. I'd never seen that before in a BL so I thought that was going to be a really nice addition. Nope, they screwed that up too. You could barely call them a couple. They didn't act like a couple and they didn't really give off that vibe. It seemed like production just didn't know what to do with them and they ended up coming off just as good friends. I'm not blaming the actresses, I actually thought they did pretty well with the scraps they had to work with. Another issue was the way Yai and Mangkorn, though primarily Mangkorn, treated women like sexual objects, hooking up in back alleys, and showing little respect. That coupled with the way some of the men talked definitely bordered on predatory. Like come on, you have to know that a large part of your audience is women, can you not treat the women in your story with some level of respect? Women in BL dramas are generally underutilized but Thai dramas are the ones that typically go the extra mile of downright disrespect and misogyny, this being one of the worst I've watched recently.

The character development overall felt pretty minimal. Yes, there was some, but when you have characters talking about how much they've changed when they really haven't changed that much, its eye rolling. I know 8 episodes is short, but I was hoping for more. I'm also going to throw in here that the attempts at comedy, mostly with the bodyguards just really fell flat. There were one or two moments that were moderately funny, but I was mostly wondering how two such idiots could possibly be considered bodyguards. If there was ever a legitimate threat on Yai's life, he'd be dead in two seconds flat.

The problems the lead couple faced were equally eye rolling. I mean, talk about first world problems. Okay, not so much the arranged marriage, but even that was blown massively out of proportion. I get being nervous talking to your parents, but seriously, the fact that neither of them had the guts to talk to their dads was a little ridiculous and then it turned out to be no big deal. And maybe because the whole "I have to go abroad" trope is used so frequently, I just really didn't have much sympathy for their separation. It seemed like they made a much bigger deal of it than was necessary. Planes are a thing, Yai's family is absurdly rich, you visit each other. I don't know. I was pretty over them and their petty drama by that point. Their constant fighting and miscommunication and refusal to act like adults, mostly on Yai's part, was incredibly frustrating to watch.

There was also just far too much packed into this drama for 8 episodes. It may have been slightly more successful if they had pared it down and focused on two or three plot points instead of ten. It made an already messy story even more so and added conflict and side stories that served little to no purpose. Was it kind of cute that they actually met when they were kids? Sure. Did it do anything to further the story or really serve a purpose? No. It could have very easily been cut out and almost nothing would have been lost.

There was just so much potential here. Enemies to lovers is always going to be popular and it could have been good here if it hadn't been so dark and downright sinister. There's sexy and then there's wrong and disturbing; this was definitely the latter. And if its done in a way that's at least somewhat believable. There were also some things that were hinted at but never allowed to fully develop. The lesbian relationship was one, but the BDSM aspect was another. It was briefly toyed with, mostly in the first episode with Yai's bondage gear and his friend, and then never seen or mentioned again. That definitely would have added some interest.

There were a very few things that I did like. The smaller cast was nice. Thai casts almost always seem too big and cluttered and its impossible to keep everyone straight. I was thankful they didn't do that with this drama. I was also surprised, but again, thankful at the lack of secondary couples. Again, normally Thai BL dramas are clogged with three or four additional couples to the main and I liked that they didn't do that with this one. Aside from our poor lesbian faux couple, there was no competition, though I kept suspecting they were going to put the bodyguards together. As there's evidently going to be a season 2, that may still happen. The OST was overall good. In particular ISBANKY's song was gorgeous. It embodied everything I had hoped this drama would be in a song but so completely wasn't. I love it, its the one good takeaway. The acting was overall pretty good. I really am going to blame the production and writing for pretty much everything wrong with this drama at this point.

All that being said. Don't waste your time. If you were one of those who thought this was going to be KinnPorsche 2.0, it's not, not even close. It's not even a good knockoff. The only reason I'm rating it as highly as I am is because I didn't think the acting/casting was bad for the most part and I did like the music. The story was a mess though and as for rewatch value? Don't make me laugh.

Read More

Could Use A Few More Chickens

This was an overall well done drama that was unfortunately too short to realize its full potential. The material was great, but eight episodes wasn't long enough to fully develop some of the issues presented or to fully develop the relationships and characters. Even so, I did enjoy this drama for the most part, it has some great messages and it does tackle some tough issues with tact.

I liked the concept for the story, how a one night stand could turn into something more. The way Wen helped Jim in so many ways, not just with working at the diner, but also with helping him find closure with his past relationship and heal and move on, was well done. I admired Wen's perseverance and that while he continued to pursue Jim even when Jim had indicated he was not looking for a relationship, he did so relatively tactfully, never pushing too hard, but still making it clear that he was interested and that he thought they could work things out. However, things turned complicated, which was exactly what Jim feared, when Wen's ex-boyfriend who he was still living with, Alan, showed up and threw a wrench in things. Despite their break up, he is still possessive of Wen and hopes that they can patch things up and get back together. Wen, however, is ready to move on, and he is faced with having to do just that and more firmly sever his ties with Alan as he tries to establish a relationship with Jim. And Alan, for his part, is left trying to move on as well and come to terms with the fact that his and Wen's relationship is truly over. Meanwhile, Jim's nephew who he has raised, is a senior in high school and is still trying to figure himself out amidst the limitations of not being the scholarly type and being poor. Jim can be overbearing with him and Li Ming feels trapped and isolated until he meets Heart, a deaf young man his own age and they slowly become friends which then turns romantic. The relationship is a healing one for both as Li Ming finds someone who understands and cares for him exactly as he is and Heart finds someone who treats him as a normal person and actually puts out the effort to communicate with him. They serve as each other's escape in many ways and I loved their relationship in all its facets.

With so many BLs these days sticking to high school or college settings, it was refreshing that this one stepped outside those bounds. I think that opened up a lot more doors for it to tackle issues that it couldn't otherwise. However, because it was confined to only eight episodes and it did try to tackle multiple issues, it wasn't necessarily able to dive into them as deeply as one might have liked. The economy and cost of living were both subjects that were brought up multiple times. Leng, one of Jim's friends and employees, and his girlfriend Praew find themselves unexpectedly expecting, so unplanned pregnancy, the cost of raising a child, and even abortion are touched on, if only briefly. By creating a deaf character, the deaf community was given representation and it was done well. The various ways of parenting is also touched on, how there's not one right way to parent and parents are always learning, even from their children. Relationships serve as a major focus, examining how some relationships simply peter out after a while, unrequited love, and, particularly, moving on from past relationships and how, while it may be painful, we can hope that there's something and someone better out there for us in the future. I enjoyed every part of it, again the only detractor is that I wanted more time to explore those topics.

Probably the biggest downfall of this drama, and I know I've seen others commenting on this, is the miscasting of Earth. Earth is a damn good actor, there is no denying that, but in no way does he, as a 29 year old young man, look anywhere close to 40. I know he's a couple years older than Mix, Khaotung and First but he really doesn't look it, and in the drama, there's presumed to be something like at least a ten year age difference between their characters. Earth is one of those people who looks younger than they really are, but this seemed outside the range of probability to me. Papang, in contrast, who played Jim's former lover, Beam, is only a year older than Earth, but he looks older. I could more easily believe he was in his mid-30's. There's also looking at him next to Lookwa who plays his sister. She's a beautiful woman, don't misunderstand me, and looks fantastic at 42, but they don't look like they are close in age at all. I understand that Earth and Mix are a popular pairing, but if they wanted them paired together, it would have made more sense to change Jim's age to something closer to Earth's actual age. As it was, Jim's age was hammered home so often you couldn't forget it, and there were some scenes that were supposed to be more emotional that just didn't work as well as they might have with a more age appropriate actor.

Jim and Wen's relationship was another issue. The first episode is great. The chemistry and tension between the two is electric and then suddenly, it's just gone and while there are still flickers of it throughout the rest of the drama, it's not quite as strong as that first impression. Wen's feelings for Jim remain clear throughout the drama while Jim's feelings are much harder to decipher. There are moments where it's evident he does feel the same way, but it wasn't always consistent and their relationship felt stagnant at times. Even when things were supposed to be changing between them, I didn't always feel it.

I really enjoyed all the side characters, particularly Alan and Gaipa. Khaotung is such a good actor, I wanted more of Gaipa just so he could showcase his skills more, but also he was so sweet, I just liked his character and I wanted to get to know him a bit more. And Alan, aside from the fact that First is also a fantastic actor, was such an interesting character, I wanted to know more about him and his history with Wen. I felt like there was a lot more to unpack there.

But the highlight couple for me was Li Ming and Heart. Having just seen My School President, I enjoyed seeing them in such different roles. Li Ming is a somewhat similar character to Gun, but much heavier on the teenage angst. But it's not in a bad way. You can feel the frustration Li Ming has with his life and circumstances, and it's justified. Fourth did such a good job with bringing Li Ming to life and bringing such nuance to the character. Heart, being deaf, was a much different character for Gemini to portray. I was so impressed with his ability to emote without speaking a single word and he was utterly believable in the role. He and Fourth have such great chemistry. The build up of Li Ming's and Heart's relationship is so well done and feels very natural.

In general, the romance is not why I enjoyed this drama. Jim and Wen's romance lacked some consistency and while Li Ming and Heart were the highlight couple for me out of those present, what I actually loved about this drama was the chicken rice family that they created. The way the characters all came together for each other to take care of each other and build each other up was so heartwarming. They may not have been related by blood, but that didn't matter, they did what needed to be done even if that cost them personally. And I liked seeing how Wen was welcomed into their family, really without much question, he was just accepted. So if you take it from that angle, rather than a romantic one, it is a very wholesome story. And for me, personally, that is better than any romance.

The production was overall pretty strong. I really liked the sets, particularly the chicken rice shop was just so aesthetically pleasing to me. It made me wish I could go there and visit that place. The lighting was an issue at times. There were a number of late night conversations and sometimes the lighting was too dim and it made it harder to make out faces and expressions. However, one scene that I absolutely loved was the one of Jim and Wen at the beach at twilight. The way it was shot with their silhouettes was beautiful. I do wish they'd translated the sign language as a fair amount of it got missed. There were times when Li Ming would essentially repeat what Heart had said, but a lot of the time I was just left guessing.

This is a drama worth watching at least once. It's short so what do you have to lose? I don't as it's one that I'll come back to which is a bit disappointing because I think it could have been absolutely phenomenal with some tweaking of the story and the cast. And I think this drama really does highlight how important casting truly is. I don't think the miscasting of Earth broke the drama, but it did affect it and its ability to pack an emotional punch. I hope in the future they focus more on delivering a solid story with an appropriate cast than keeping particular pairings together.

Read More

Stupid Plan

*sigh* I don't know why I was hoping this would be a decent drama given that MAME is the writer. I will give her credit that she is good at creating stories that are surface level attractive, that being said, don't try to go any deeper or you'll be sorely disappointed. Wedding Plan is no exception. It's filled with attractive actors/actresses, decent music, lovely camerawork/visuals, and beautiful sets and costuming, but the characters themselves are lacking as is the plot. A good portion of the story hinges on unnecessary drama and while the initial concept isn't bad, it quickly comes crashing down.

The story centers around Namnuea, a wedding planner, and his client, groom Sailom. Nuea is supposed to be planning Lom's wedding to Yiwa, but there's a catch; neither Lom nor Yiwa is straight. The "plan" is for the two of them to get married so that Yiwa can be with her girlfriend, Marine, and get away from her conservative family. She and Lom have been friends for over a decade so he agrees to this arrangement. But having seen Nuea at a friend's wedding, Lom falls in love at first sight and decides to pursue him. Now I had zero issues with Yiwa and Lom's plan. I can certainly sympathize with their situation and how they didn't see another way out. They both had conservative families who wouldn't accept their sexuality and were forced to do something extreme to escape and gain their freedom. That was all fine and dandy. Lom's plan, however, was incredibly stupid and was the one that caused all the issues, because he starts to pursue Nuea without telling him about his and Yiwa's arrangement. And Nuea has pretty much fallen for him at first sight so Nuea is put into the situation of trying to hide his feelings initially and then once Lom starts actively pursuing him, fight those feelings. It's incredibly unfair to him because a brief conversation with Lom explaining things would have cleared everything up. But then this drama would be 3 or 4 episodes instead of 7. So instead, this situation gets dragged out with Nuea feeling more and more guilty and anxious as Lom continues to pursue him, almost forcing himself on him at times, until Nuea finally gives into his feelings. I truly feel bad for Nuea because Lom forced him into a corner, physically and morally. Nuea doesn't know that Lom isn't actually taken, so naturally, he feels incredibly guilty that he has, in his mind, cheated with the groom. He runs home, Lom follows and they eventually get everything worked out. The wedding moves ahead as planned until on their wedding day when it turns out Yiwa has eloped with Marine and left the country. Not only does this give her and Marine the freedom to be together and get married, but it also allows Lom to slowly bring his relationship with Nuea out into the open. I also didn't have an issue with Yiwa's plan here because while I know some people think it's unfair that she shouldered all the blame and Lom got away scot-free, that was her intention. So the fact that she planned it that way and that's what she wanted, I was fine with it. Honestly, typing this out, it sounds more interesting than it actually was.

Besides the stupidity of Lom's plan, there are a myriad of other issues here. There are plenty of unnecessary scenes that affect the pacing and make it drag. A prime example was all the wakeboarding scenes towards the beginning. Did it look cool? Yes. Was it necessary? No. Those scenes could have been significantly cut down and absolutely nothing would have been lost. The repetitive scenes of Nuea moping and his boss and co-workers trying to eke out of him what was going on could also have been cut. And that after credit scene with Lom and Nuea as children was equally unnecessary. I was afraid they were going to pull something like that where they actually met as children when Lom commented he thought he'd been there as a kid, but was hoping they wouldn't do it because it's just so cliche. Unfortunately, they did and aside from being sort of cute, it served absolutely no purpose. There were more, but I'll stick with those couple. Similarly a lot of the dialogue was repetitive and did nothing to move the plot along. And while the moms could be entertaining, particularly with the music that played whenever they entered, the fight between them at the wedding went on far longer than was necessary. And speaking of the wedding, weren't there supposed to be like 600 people? I mean, I understand logistically with filming that simply wasn't possible, but it didn't look like there were even 100 people there and there were ways they could have been consistent without actually having 600 people on set. And while I don't find fault with Lom and Yiwa's plan to get married in and of itself, the logistics of it did not seem well thought out for the long run. What exactly were they going to do when their mothers wanted grandkids? How did they plan to keep their lives separate while also being married to each other? Living in the same building made things easier, but if one of their mothers decided to drop by unannounced as happened with Yiwa's mother, that had the potential to cause issues. Frankly, I think the strain of carrying on such a farce would have eventually led to trouble in their respective relationships. Their plan would have solved one problem, but caused numerous others. As a final note here, I also didn't appreciate the way they tried to use repetitive shots of a half naked Lom as a way to distract from the lack of plot. I hate when dramas do that, it's so cheap, and while the man is attractive, I'd rather have a cohesive and entertaining plot. But that's just me.

I did enjoy getting to see Payu, Rain, Prapai and Sky of Love in the Air again. While I thought Prapai and Sky speaking English at their wedding was odd, it was still a sweet moment and Payu's proposal to Rain was beautifully done. Their appearance in particular made it believable that time had passed since the drama which I appreciated, but they were also still very much themselves.

Besides the plot and writing being less than great, the characters, similarly, were nothing special.
-Lom, while not necessarily toxic, was at best an idiot and at worst a total ass. My biggest problem with him was his decision to remain silent and all the damage he did by doing so. By pursuing Nuea while still planning a wedding with Yiwa, he put Nuea in a moral dilemma which was incredibly cruel and unfair to him. I still do not fully understand why he didn't tell Nuea from the get go. I could understand potentially being afraid of coming out to someone when he'd kept it such a secret, but considering the fact that he made it very clear that he wanted Nuea, I don't understand his reticence in telling him what was going on. It was ironic that he was friends with Love in the Air's Prapai because he reminded me of him to some degree with his stalking of Nuea, manipulation, and deception. On the flip side, he could also be incredibly caring and sweet. I did believe he loved Nuea, I just didn't care for the way he went about it.
-Nuea was supposed to be this very put together wedding planner who excelled at his job and yet his lack of professionalism when dealing with Lom didn't give me that impression. I work in customer service, I understand clients getting under your skin and irritating the crap out of you. However, I have never lost my composure with them and gone off on any of them, no matter how tempting. Nuea had to have faced challenging clients before, so the fact that he lost his cool so easily seemed weird to me. And while I can't justify his actions with Lom, I can understand them. I felt his struggle regarding his feelings for Lom were relatable and human. He actively tries to resist, he even reminds Lom that he's getting married, but he does eventually cave. It's not right, but again, I could understand how he reached that point because resisting someone who's pursuing you that hard has to be incredibly difficult. He could have done more to separate himself from the situation and I do feel like he put himself in the path of temptation, but I appreciated he realized his mistake and owned up to it and then worked to make sure it wouldn't happen again until Lom finally explained everything to him.
-Yiwa and Marine were our girl couple and while I found them to be kind of sweet, I didn't find them to be particularly interesting which was disappointing because I felt they could have been utilized much better. Despite the fact that their relationship was given some background, they still felt fairly shallow and a lot of their interactions felt repetitive. Marine came across as sweet and empathetic, however, she was also a bit bland. She lacked energy and she seemed very hesitant when Yiwa initiated any kind of physical intimacy which was odd since they were supposed to have been together for 2ish years. Yiwa was the more outgoing and bubbly of the two. I liked her personality and I liked her friendship with Lom. They definitely gave a brother/sister vibe. I also appreciated the conundrum she was facing with wanting to try to balance her familial obligations while remaining true to herself. I thought it was incredibly gracious and brave of her to take the brunt of the backlash regarding her and Lom's failed wedding. And I was glad that she and Marine got their happily ever after.
-I liked Nuea's family. They were all so incredibly supportive of him and their protectiveness of him was equal parts amusing and endearing depending on the situation.

The acting was tolerable but nothing special. Sunny and Pak weren't consistent with their chemistry. Sometimes I felt it, other times it was lacking. Both felt pretty green which was understandable considering their lack of experience. Pak seemed more versatile, his expressions and actions were more varied. Sunny's acting lacked that extra nuance. Aya and Kate really seemed to struggle with their chemistry. Kate in particular just seemed uncomfortable when they were kissing and it made it hard to believe they were an established couple. Individually I found Aya more interesting to watch. There was a sameness to her expressions, but she brought more energy. Kate lacked that energy and seemed a little too reserved and perfect. I felt like she could have done more with the character, but given this was her first acting role, she wasn't awful.

The production value is excellent. The camerawork, the lighting, the sets, etc. were all high quality and very well done. I loved the costumes. I particularly liked how each character had their own distinct style that was maintained throughout the drama. The music was also pretty good, but not particularly memorable.

I ultimately found myself disappointed in Wedding Plan. I wasn't expecting anything spectacular, but I hoped it would at least be a fun and fluffy diversion. Instead we got MAME's trademark of a lack in communication causing more issues than were necessary which lead to more drama/angst and less fluff. So, if you're looking for an actual plot and decent characters, I would skip this one, you won't be missing much. But if your cup of tea is some steamy scenes and attractive, shirtless men, you might enjoy this.

Read More

In the Pits

I wanted to like Pit Babe. The racing concept, in particular, was intriguing to me as was the action/mystery aspect of the story. The inclusion of several actors that I was familiar with and liked was equally appealing. However, the more I watched, I found the lack of explanation regarding the plot and characters' actions, the poorly developed relationships, and generally awful script to be a major turn off and by the end, I was more just happy that it was over than anything else.

Pit Babe suffers from a mess of a plot combined with terrible writing. It tried too hard to combine multiple genres and failed to do so in a coherent way. I also found the lack of any kind of explanation for things to be very frustrating. I was aware this was based off a novel, but had never read it or looked into it, so I went in blind. I was immediately slightly confused by the whole Alpha concept which was never explained and which became further confusing with the introduction of Pete and Way as Enigmas. The story is apparently part of what's called the Omegaverse which I had no knowledge of and had to go poking around the internet to even get a basic understanding of what it all meant. That was a major strike against this series. You cannot expect people to have necessarily read the source material so there needs to be some kind of explanation woven into the story to at least give a general idea of what's going on. As frustrating as it all was, I eventually just went with it as I had no intention of doing a lot of extra research that I shouldn't have to do in the first place. Aspects of the "senses" that some characters had was also either not properly explained or not explained at all. Why did some have it and others didn't? How exactly did they work? After Charlie's fake death, the fact that Babe's sense was apparently fluctuating between them was equally left unexplained. Again, there was a lack of explanation in general, and that, combined with a number of fairly glaring plot holes, really took away from the story. The first half or so of the series was plagued with a certain level of repetition with Babe finding out something about Charlie that made him question his feelings and kick Charlie out, go crying to Way who pretty clearly was trying to manipulate him, only to discover that it was either an overreaction on his part or Charlie had hidden some piece of information for a good reason and they would eventually reconcile. Some of Alan and Jeff's interactions also felt a bit repetitive at times towards the beginning though less gratingly. I found the ending to be unsatisfying. Tony's dead but what about all the kids and cleaning up the mess he made? What happens with Kenta and Pete? Instead of answering any plot related questions or attempting to wrap up the story, the last ten minutes or so are mainly NSFW scenes or cute scenes between the two main couples. It felt cheap. The pacing was inconsistent. There were a few moments where it got into a good flow, but those were generally pretty short lived. There were far more moments where it just dragged.

This is yet another Thai series that suffered from an overinflated cast. There were too many characters introduced at once and even by the end I still didn't have all of them straight. Because there were so many characters, there was a tendency at times for characters to disappear for a period of time and then suddenly pop back up. That also didn't help with keeping them straight. A number of those characters proved to be superfluous and could have very easily been cut or condensed into one character to make things more cohesive. Besides the two main relationships of Babe/Charlie and Alan/Jeff, there were several others that were toyed with but never went anywhere which was annoying. North and Sonic was a pairing that was teased and actually could have been made to work but was never confirmed. Pete and Way was a late addition that was somewhat interesting, but too little, too late for me compounded with the fact that given Way's feelings for Babe, I doubted he was ready to move on so quickly. There was also Pete and Kenta's history which could have been used to bring them together, but again, they completely disappeared after Tony's and Way's deaths.
- Babe was interesting initially with his playboy attitude and cockiness, but an underlying current of kindness and though he would deny it, love for his friends/family. All of that immediately gave him a certain depth of character, but his sudden change of character when it came to Charlie was odd. He went from being a playboy to a committed relationship essentially instantaneously. There was little to no reasoning given to what it was about Charlie that made him fall in love aside from the fact he didn't smell like other Alphas. It was instances like this that left characters feeling unrealistic. While his lack of trust was understandable, his back and forth with Charlie got old very quickly and even in the last couple of episodes, the way he said things, the wording he used, made me wonder if he really did love and care about Charlie. Certainly I never got the impression that his feelings were quite as deep as Charlie's.
- Charlie left me with a lot of questions regarding his past and how he got to where he was. There was a lot left unexplained about him in general, including why he didn't smell like other Alphas did and how his sense worked and how he found out how it worked. I didn't find him to be a particularly interesting character. Sure he was cute, he obviously cared about Babe and worked to take care of him, but as a character, he felt fairly shallow. His love and loyalty to Babe seemed to make up most of his personality. But similarly to Babe, it wasn't made clear why he fell in love with Babe aside from physical attraction. Time was not well delineated in this series, but I did find his improvement in racing to be improbable, particularly since it seemed that he was a complete novice and yet in a relatively short period of time he was somehow able to compete with Babe who'd been racing for years.
- Way was a disappointment of a character. He'd "loved" Babe for years, however, it's clear that his love was more an obsession than anything true. He didn't hesitate to use his sense on Babe on several occasions to nudge him in what he perceived as the right direction, namely breaking up with Charlie and remaining alone. Nor did he hesitate to attempt to force himself on Babe eventually and showed more remorse for having been caught than for what he actually did, at least initially. The fact that Pete was so easily able to turn him was implausible to me and it was clear that they were going for a redemption arc which conveniently concluded with his death. It felt shallow, cheap, and poorly executed. I have no issues with a redemption arc if it makes sense with the character and is properly done, but this was not it.
- Alan and Jeff were generically cute, not that that's a bad thing. I did enjoy their relationship and the build up of it. It felt better developed than Babe and Charlie's since they'd worked together and gotten to know each other before they got together, but there was still a bit of that element of what really drew them together. Separately, I appreciated Alan and his care for those under him. He was loyal to a fault and he truly treated the team and those who worked with them as family and my heart broke a little for him at Dean's betrayal and seeing how much that hurt him. While Jeff's sense and how it worked wasn't well explained, he made it sound like he had to actively use it when touching someone and yet there were times when it seemed like that wasn't the case, it did give him the excuse to be a loner and then have Alan be the one to help coax him out of his shell. While not an overly strong character, I did generally like him. He, and Charlie for that matter, could have just disappeared, but instead they stayed behind to fight Tony.
- Tony felt cartoonish as a villain. I never found him to be particularly threatening or scary. It seemed they were going for the kind of character who appears benevolent on the surface with a malicious streak under the surface, but I don't think they successfully brought that out. Certainly he was an absolutely horrible person, but there wasn't enough to him to make him a true threat. There was nothing regarding his history and how he came to power to help give him depth as a character and that was a major failing.

While the plot and writing were definite detractors from this series, the cast made the most of it and they were a highlight. Pavel's acting has improved since I last saw him and despite the inconsistencies of his character, he did quite well and I enjoyed his portrayal of Babe. Pooh was the baby of the cast, I believe, and this was his first role so I wasn't surprised when he didn't quite meet the standards the others. Not that he was bad, he actually did a decent job all things considered, but there were moments where it was obvious that he's quite green. His chemistry with Pavel fluctuated a bit. There were times where I really felt it and others where it seemed hollow. However, I'm chalking that up to the writing more than anything. While I was not a fan of his character arc, I do think Nut did a great job as Way and working with what he had.

There was one aspect of this series that I really liked and wanted to comment on and that was how Babe and Charlie did not conform to the norms when it came to who was top and who was bottom. With most BLs, the more traditionally masculine looking character, i.e. taller, more muscular, etc., is the top and the softer character, i.e. shorter, less muscular, cuter, etc., is the bottom. I liked that it was flipped with Charlie as the top and Babe as the bottom. It was refreshing, particularly the way that it was normalized, no questions asked, it was just the way things were. That is one aspect that more BLs should normalize, not pigeonholing characters' sex position based on appearance or even personality.

The production aspect was overall pretty decent. There were some odd camera angles at times and some awkward jumps, but overall, nothing too distracting or detracting. The action scenes felt amateurish at times and obviously choreographed rather than natural. The music was catchy, but forgettable.

Pit Babe could have been so much more than it was. The racing concept is not one that I've seen used frequently and it was refreshing to be outside the typical high school/college setting, but the poor writing combined with the messy plot and multiple plot holes just made it fall flat. The lack of realistic characters and well developed relationships was another detractor. There were parts of it that I enjoyed, but as a whole, I wouldn't have missed out on anything if I never saw it.

Read More

Hidden Plot

I wasn't expecting fireworks from Hidden Agenda, but I also didn't expect it to be as bad as it was. I anticipated the name to play a far larger role in the story than it did. It was barely a blip in the bigger picture. The acting, bless Dunk and Joong's hearts, is subpar and it definitely brought the quality down. The OST is kind of fun, but severely overused and it got old very fast. It ended up being a complete train wreck.

The plot was nearly non-existent. There's a bit of an over arcing focus on the debate competition, but it's pretty thin. Besides the romance between Zo and Joke which was underdeveloped, the drama, beyond Episode 5 or so, is mostly made up of various filler story lines that get wrapped up far too quickly to have any kind of meaning. Aspects like Zo's past with Puen, the whole stalker scenario, Zo's and Joke's conflicts with their parents, etc. all were introduced fairly quickly with very little meaningful background and then the issue was typically resolved within an episode or two. The sad part is that several of those story lines could have been interesting. The stalker part had potential, I actually thought it was going to play a much larger role than it did, but it ended up being incredibly lame in part due to how quickly everything was worked out but also because of foolish decisions characters made. The issue with Zo's and Joke's parents could have been introduced much earlier and played a bigger role in the characters' actions and behaviour. Instead they fell flat because of how late in the drama they came in. And then there's the whole "hidden agenda" which was just very poorly planned out. It felt forced and while Zo had every right to be upset, his reaction seemed excessive. In general, it felt very scatter brained and incohesive. The pacing while initially relatively smooth if slow, quickly became inconsistent. The filler episodes were tedious to get through and it felt like the story was going nowhere.

The characters were fairly lackluster. The few that actually breathed some life into the story were unfortunately underutilized. It was disappointing that they weren't given the chance to shine as removing a lot of the filler and giving them more screen time would have significantly improved the drama. Joke and Zo, despite being the main couple, lacked a lot of development in their relationship. There were moments where they seemed to be on the same page, but then there would be conflict out of nowhere. Joke in particular seemed to lack a sense of self. Everything about him was focused on Zo and yet it's never clear exactly why he's so in love with him. Zo's emotions were hard to read which I think was mostly an acting issue, but it made it difficult to identify with and care about the character. There were also some awkward moments between the characters. One that stood out to me was the scene where Joke and Zo have sex for the first time. Zo says he doesn't think he's ready, then apparently changes his mind two seconds later and then looks absolutely terrified when Joke goes to take off his shirt. Joke's actions also felt out of character. Considering how caring and attentive he had been towards Zo up to that point, he felt too assertive in that moment. I imagined him taking things much slower to make sure Zo was comfortable. The energy and emotions just felt very off for an intimate scene. Characters like Jeng, Pok, Kot and Pat added a necessary level of dimension to the story, but were never given full rein to develop into fully realized characters. Jeng and Pok in particular were a great addition as an established couple and frankly I found them to be far more compelling than Joke and Zo. They faced legitimate issues in their relationship that unfortunately were rushed but did provide a nice reprieve from the monotony. Kot and Pat were filtered in mostly as a source of humor, but I generally liked their characters and I think with better planning, they could have served as more than that. I found Nita to be fairly boring. She had some good lines, I did think she deserved to win the scholarship as her answer was the best thought out and compelling, but otherwise she didn't impress me. She felt like the token female character that needed to be present for the lead to crush on before realizing he was actually into guys. As a side note, the whole conflict between Wave and Trin was incredibly contrived and unnecessary. Why they couldn't have just had Wave not like the guy because their personalities clashed or something less convoluted is beyond me. The ending between them felt cliche and unresolved.

The acting, particularly the leads', was underwhelming. Dunk is a sweetheart, he seems like a genuinely nice and good guy, but when it comes to his acting, he really struggles. It felt like he was playing a very slightly different version of Daonuea from SIMM. He either under acts or over acts depending on the scene, emotional scenes are painful to watch, he fails to emote, and he does this weird thing with his head sometimes that I don't even know how to describe. Frankly, I don't know as he's so much acting as just being himself. It's just no bueno. Joong felt like he was portraying a less closed off Khabkluen from SIMM. His performance wasn't bad, just not great either. And the thing is, he can act. He had a small role in Home School recently and I really liked his performance. Here though, he was a bit boring. I do think some of that was the way the character was written though. Joke doesn't have much to him. The chemistry between Joong and Dunk wasn't great which is both surprising and disappointing because off screen, their chemistry is fantastic. But in this instance it felt forced and unnatural at times. Aou was one of the bright spots in the cast. I've seen every drama he's been in and he has yet to disappoint me. I don't think this was one of his stronger roles, but I'm chalking that up to the writing because he didn't have a whole lot to work with. Boom was another bright spot. His chemistry with Aou is great. They seem comfortable with each other and it shows. I love Louis. He's such a versatile actor and I found him entertaining in this role though I wish we'd had more of him. I like AJ, but I feel like he typically plays the same kind of characters. I'd like to see him in a different role. Jamie is a gorgeous young woman, I liked her in Home School, but here I just found her to be wooden. She lacked expression a lot of the time or seemed to only use one expression. Her performance was just bland. I felt she could have done a lot more with the character.

My biggest problem with the production was the sheer number of inconsistencies. Every drama is going to have them, but this one stands out in terms of how blatant they were. In the scene where Zo almost falls twice and Joke catches him, arms were in different places between takes. Same with the scene where they cuddle in bed. In one take, Zo's arm is under the cover, in the next it's on top of the cover. In the scene where Joke takes his roadside shower which was weird to begin with, there was a smear of grease on his arm that kept appearing and disappearing. And probably the most glaring instance was, in the shot right before Zo finds the smashed ceramics, as he's closing the door, you can clearly see them, still intact, on the shelf behind him. There were a few others, but those ones really stood out to me and to me it just showed a lack of attention to detail.

This is not a drama that I can in good faith recommend. It was too inconsistent and too poorly acted to make it worth the time to get through. There are some sweet scenes, but they're not enough to make up for all that's lacking. Unless you are a die hard JoongDunk fan, steer clear of this one.

Read More

House of Boring

The trailer for House of Stars made me think it was going to be a dark, intriguing, sexy drama. I was sorely disappointed in every possible way. There is nothing sexy or intriguing about this drama and I'm already working to scrub the memory of it from my brain. It is just so poorly done from the acting to the writing and everything in between. The poor quality was compounded by the latter part of the drama feeling like a set up for a second season which is such a cop out. One way or another it's a terrible ending. It's not a cliffhanger per se, but nothing feels resolved. There was really no part of this drama that I enjoyed and it was simply a trial to get through.

The plot is all over the place. I feel like this drama didn't know what it wanted to be. Did it want to be a snapshot of actors' lives and a behind the scenes look at the not so pretty parts of them? Did it want to be a romance? Did it want to be a murder mystery? Or perhaps a revenge story? The problem is that it tries to be all of the above and more and it simply doesn't work. There's simultaneously too much and not enough, too many stories trying to be told, but they're not told well and it becomes boring. I reached the halfway point and seriously considered just dropping it because it felt like nothing was really happening. It was all just incredibly tedious and frustrating. Things finally started picking up at Episode 10 with the murder, but at that point it was too little, too late and all I could think was, if they had put this closer to the beginning, it could have actually been an interesting and decent drama. As it is, there's far too much crammed into those last couple of episodes and large parts of it end up feeling rushed. The final episode felt unfinished. Again, I'm guessing they're gunning for a second season, which I would not watch because this was such a disaster, but considering the fact that a second season isn't always guaranteed, it seems foolish to end it the way that they did with so much unresolved. It was a disappointing conclusion to a disappointing series.

The pacing was far too slow for most of the drama. It feels like there's a lot of filler and a lot that goes on that doesn't really serve any kind of purpose. Most of the romantic relationships progressed at such glacial paces it was infuriating to watch. I got so frustrated with the love triangle between Pitch, Gun and Soh that by the end I didn't give a damn who ended up with who. Weyha and Wayu's relationship was slightly more bearable, but even it got frustrating to watch at times. And the love triangle between Korn, Mintra and Phawin was just a hot mess and not the good kind. Also frustrating was the lack of knowledge provided, particularly regarding the house rules. We know that dating within the house was not allowed aside from Korn and Mintra since it was written into their contract, but otherwise they were not elaborated on and it got very tiring to have everyone talking about the house rules and how they had to follow them and reminding people to follow them when we had no clue what all of them were. It wouldn't have been that hard to have the rules weaved into the narrative at different points, but I'm guessing the writers never thought beyond the no dating rule. I also questioned how Weyha was treated. He'd obviously been failing auditions for a while, his speech was a known issue, so why was that not addressed until he was at the point of being kicked out and Wayu voluntarily stepped in to help him? Same with Pitch but to a lesser extent. He seemed to struggle with connecting to his character's emotions and emoting, yet nothing was done about that until he asked to shadow Gun and basically fixed himself. It seems like since Miss Susie was investing in them and needed them to be cast, it would have been common sense to hire acting/dialect coaches to help her actors reach their full potential.

Having a big cast is always an issue, in Thai drama especially, because they never seem to know what to do with those large casts and how to divide the attention evenly enough for everyone to get established. The relatively short seasons don't help either. Chinese and Korean dramas can get away with larger casts because they're typically much longer either in terms of number of episodes or episode length and can thus delve into their characters more and stretch out their stories and allow the viewer to get to know them more gradually. Thai dramas don't generally have that luxury and large casts rarely work out well. Here there simply was not enough time to really get to know all the characters well enough to actually care about them and what was going on in their lives.
-Pitch felt like he was supposed to be one of the more main characters initially as there was a larger focus on him than some of the others. But oh my goodness was he dull as a bag of rocks. He just didn't seem to have much of a personality and the fact that he had both Gun and Soh pursuing him was baffling. Like why? What on earth do you both see in this guy? He's kind of cute, but that's about it. To give him some credit, he did seem like a genuinely decent guy for the most part, if incredibly dense. How he didn't click that Soh had feelings for him is beyond me since it was painfully obvious.
-Soh was a surprise, to say the least. I had inklings that maybe he wasn't who he appeared to be, but wasn't fully expecting how far his revenge would extend. I do wish more of that side of his character had been hinted at throughout as he only really became interesting in the last couple of episodes. I was also confused by his character in that I was left unsure if he actually had feelings for Pitch or if he just didn't want Gun to have anything positive in his life. Either way, I was left with mixed feelings regarding his character.
-Gun was so perfect that he was boring. His expression was generally so stoic and he was so unflappable that he simply wasn't all that interesting to watch. Even his history with being responsible for Sin's accident didn't really give him much more depth. His romance with Pitch was poorly portrayed. The buildup was so minimal and I just really didn't feel anything between them. I also found it disappointing that he's so apologetic to both Sin and Soh about being the cause of the accident and yet he apparently has no qualms about pursuing Pitch when he knows that Soh likes him too.
-Korn was a colossal ass and I think he got exactly what he deserved. He was an incredibly unlikeable character what with cheating on Mintra then gaslighting her and eventually trying to use both her and Phawin. His whole attitude too that he was almost owed bigger and better parts was off-putting. In general, he was an incredibly selfish person and aside from being attractive, I don't know what either Mintra or Phawin saw in him.
-Mintra was one of the few more interesting characters in that she had my opinion of her go up and down several times. I started out with mixed feelings for her. On the one hand, I liked her strength and the fact that she could be the voice of reason for Korn. On the other hand, her sniping with Phawin and possessiveness of Korn made her seem like a jerk, to put it mildly. Once Korn cheated on her, my opinion of her took a major downward turn. I felt bad for her, but her manipulation and antics were just overbearing and quickly became tedious. My opinion of her changed again though when she apologized to Korn and broke up with him and basically paired up with Phawin to screw him over. I liked that side of her and I liked that she and Phawin got to a point that they were basically frenemies.
-Phawin also gave me mixed feelings because of course it was absolutely not okay that he knowingly seduced Korn when he was already in a relationship with Mintra, but I also kind of admired him for the fact that he was upfront about everything. He made all the snide comments to Mintra and was openly antagonistic towards her, but aside from hinting to the police that they should look into her as a suspect, he never stooped to her level of manipulation. Also just loved his sassiness. I do wish we had seen a bit more of what went on in his head to make him decide to reject Korn. It felt sudden and unexplained, not that I'm really complaining since the important part is that Korn got called out for trying to use him. And, again, I liked that he and Mintra reached a truce of sorts.
-I'm going to put Weyha and Wayu together because their characters pretty much ended up revolving around each other. They were a generically cute couple. I ended up rooting for them more than any of the other couples mostly because they were at least moderately interesting to watch and had the healthiest and most wholesome relationship. I felt the pacing regarding their relationship was the most well done and the most natural. I didn't have much of an opinion regarding them as individuals. I think Weyha was a bit more interesting with being the rookie actor. It gave him more room to grow and develop. Wayu was a generally nice guy and that was about it.
-Lalit made no sense in any way, shape, or form. She's a literal stalker who is somehow able to enter the house as an actress, no idea how that happened since we never saw her working as an actress, so how exactly did they find her? And then when Miss Susie catches her red handed, she decides to use her as a spy of sorts. And so she ends up facing zero consequence for anything that she does and ends up as an assistant to Host. Like, what?
-Sun was an odd character in that I didn't really see the point in him. He obviously scared both Miss Susie and Host, but we never find out why or really anything about him other than he was in prison (?) in another country. He just didn't seem to serve any real purpose other than being dark and imposing and making a far too convenient a murder suspect.
-And Miss Susie? She was a bit of an enigma, and a creepy one at that. The way she watched everyone hooking up with each other but then rarely, if ever saying anything, was disconcerting. For all the talk about the rules, it wasn't like they were always enforced. She was given some background, but so much about who she was and her thought process was left unknown. She could have been a genuinely interesting character, but that lack of information just made her out to be more of a raging ass than anything.

One of the biggest flaws of this drama though were the actors. I don't know who approved the decision to select an almost entirely rookie cast, but it was an incredibly foolish decision because in no way were any of the actors believable as seasoned, highly sought after stars. Frankly the only two I can really give any kind of credit to are Heng as Weyha and Boss as Soh. Double was also pretty decent as Phawin. Heng though was believable as a rookie actor because he is a rookie actor, so it worked perfectly. Also kind of loved the scene of him and Wayu filming together. His deranged laugh was entertaining. Boss absolutely carried Leo through pretty much all their scenes. The difference between them was almost painful because Boss was able to emote and bring his character to life and Leo was just kind of there. I could at least feel the chemistry on his end even if Leo didn't contribute. Double is up there because while his expressions could be repetitive, he at least was expressive. The rest were all very blah. Leo frankly cannot act. I usually like to give newbie actors the benefit of the doubt, but it was almost physically painful watching him. He had zero chemistry with anyone and the idea of Pitch and Gun having feelings for each other was laughable. Pepo had two expressions and spent most of the drama looking aloof and vaguely irritated. Again zero chemistry between him and Leo. Namchok and New were fairly bland, though Namchok's chemistry with Heng was decent if not a full blaze. Oaey and Katang were slightly better, but their expressions were just repetitive.

House of Stars is quite simply, in my opinion, a drama to avoid. There is really nothing worth watching here, it's just a colossal disappointment. It joins a steadily growing list of dramas that could have been decent, maybe even great, but was crippled by subpar writing and acting. I like dark and gritty dramas, but they need to be well done and this is simply not it.

Read More

Nothing Cute About It

I was very intrigued by the synopsis of this drama and having liked Zee's acting in Why R U?, I decided to give it a shot. It was, quite frankly, a hot mess. I honestly don't even know where to begin. There was so little good about it and so much bad. It all felt very forced and unnatural and much of the story made little to no sense.

I was not impressed by the overly preachy beginning and ending dialogue. Do not get me wrong, I think same sex marriage should be legalized in all countries. That being said it felt out of place and unnecessary. I feel like there were more subtle ways of getting the point across that would have been more tasteful and again, less preachy.

The story was a complete and total mess. More than a romance, I felt like it was a drama about toxic relationships and how not to communicate. It is very and I do mean very, kiss scene heavy. I think those scenes were put in the drama to try to draw attention away from all the problems both in the story and in the relationships. Both Hias are depicted as being very controlling and possessive, to the point of wanting to know what their SO is doing at all times. While they try to portray this as them just being worried and caring, it came across as extremely unhealthy to me. For example, Hia Yi sets a curfew of 9pm for Khondiao who has to leave his friends in order to make said curfew in one scene. Hia Lian has had someone monitoring Kuea for who knows how long and is fully aware of the secret life he is living. Both men also seem quite unconcerned about the fact the men they love are afraid of them. The level of control the Hias have is just disturbing especially considering their SOs are grown men. At least with Yi and Khondiao's relationship, there is a moment where Khondiao stands up to Yi and their relationship seems to achieve some level of balance though still very much skewed in Yi's favor. Lian and Kuea's relationship, however, is stagnant for the entirety of the drama. Though Kuea has a few moments of defiance, in the end he always gives in to Lian. After the scene at Lian's father's birthday party, I was really hopeful to see a change, but it was basically everything back to normal with no real growth or resolution. Overall there was such a complete lack of character development.

On top of the toxicity of the relationships, there's the lack of explanation for why characters acted the way they did or why things are the way that they are. When and why did Kuea suddenly feel the need to act like a perfect person to suit Lian? When did Lian turn into the cold, emotionless jerk and why exactly did he tell Kuea he didn't love him? I felt like his reasoning and his initial behaviour was glossed over and dismissed far too easily for all the damage it did. Also, what was with the arranged marriage? Why was that in any way necessary? And how did their families even know each other since they were from such different backgrounds? The background was so completely lacking and nonsensical that there was no way anything else could make sense. On top of all that you have Yi and Khondiao's story which was incredibly vague and disjointed. I was actually semi-interested in it because of the mystery of what Yi did to Khondiao. The "mystery" was that Yi didn't actually do anything, it was an accident. And the flashback regarding that incident made it seem like they had a similar relationship to that of Lian and Kuea which was out of the blue as I never got that impression previously.

The plot positively drags. Scenes are drawn out that don't need to be drawn out or are just repeated multiple times. The couples keep lying to each other and failing to communicate. There's this constant theme of maybe telling the truth would be the best thing and then in the next scene they're lying to each other again. Its honestly so frustrating to watch because they never learn and even at the end, it doesn't feel like anything has really changed.

While the story was terrible, the acting was not. Zee and NuNew in particular had good chemistry and while there were a few moments where I felt like NuNew's acting was a bit forced or awkward, I thought he did really well for his first role. I also have to give a shout out to Poppy as Foie for bringing some much needed comedic relief. He was absolutely hilarious and I laughed every time he was onscreen.

The characterization, though, was lacking. I have rarely seen a drama with such stagnant characters. Very few had any real growth and most of them seemed to be in the same place at the end as they were at the beginning with nothing or very little learned from their experiences. That was very disappointing for me. I can generally forgive or at least mostly forgive a bad storyline/plot if the character development is good, but it just wasn't there.
-Kuea really does come across as a doll, maybe not an Annabelle doll, but a doll nonetheless. He acts the way he assumes others want him to and even when Lian tells him he loves him no matter what, he refuses to trust him. On the one hand, I can understand that lack of trust based on how Lian is at the beginning, but after a while it just seemed like an excuse. His roundabout way of trying to get information was also frustrating, adding to the whole lack of communication theme. His constant assumptions made things worse for himself and others. In the end, I didn't really feel like he had learned how to communicate to prevent the same issues from recurring.
-Lian's cold then hot attitude was confusing and, again, never clearly explained. It also felt overdone and too abrupt going from his cold boss persona to adoring partner. I feel like that could have been pulled back to make it somewhat more believable. Based on his personality, I have trouble imagining someone like him making out in public. And although his attitude changed to lovey-dovey, he still came across as controlling.
-Khondiao came across as more of a kid than an adult so taking his relationship with Yi seriously was a bit of a stretch. I did appreciate him standing up for himself though and I felt like he had more character development than others. He seemed more able to stand on his own and stand against Yi if necessary at the end.
-Yi seemed like a sadist who enjoyed the control he had over Khondiao and the fear he could incite. He supposedly feels guilty towards him for something that happened during their childhood, and so takes care of him, allowing him to live in his house. But, he does control much of his life, wanting to know where Khondiao is at all times and even setting a curfew for him. The communication between the two is just nonexistent. They get together without discussing any of their issues really and it just feels so forced. While he does soften, he doesn't ever seem to trust that Khondiao can take care of himself and remains overbearing.
-I can't say that I had much of an opinion about the other side characters. Foie was an amusing diversion when he was onscreen and added some much needed comedic relief. Kuea's university friends were also amusing. Of them, I did enjoy Nuer and Syn's love story. As a side couple, their story was not really elaborated on, but they made a cute couple and were by far the healthiest relationship.

There were two moments that I particularly appreciated, though one promptly got thrown out the window shortly thereafter. The first is just before Lian and Kuea have sex for the first time, Lian asks for Kuea's consent, making sure that he's not drunk and knows what he's doing. It was nice to see since most dramas just imply that both parties are consenting. To actually have it verbally given was refreshing. That was promptly thrown out the window multiple times afterward when Kuea clearly says no or to stop and Lian keeps kissing him. Apparently you only need to ask the first time and its fair game after that. The second moment was when Kuea is with his university friends and one of them asks the sole woman in their group if she's on her period because she's cranky. She gives him a proper verbal beatdown that was kind of awesome to see.

As a side note, I always have an issue with the way most pets are treated in Asian dramas and this one was no exception. Aside from the Golden Retriever who, unsurprisingly, seemed to be content being on set and getting pets, the Chihuahua really bothered me. The poor thing's body language screamed that he was stressed and did not want to be there. I felt so bad watching. And also, having Yi give him as a gift, just no. It is never a good idea to give an animal as a gift, there are too many things that could go wrong. And I will now step off my soapbox.

The music was overall good. I did like NuNew's voice and I think he's frankly a stronger singer than actor. I didn't love the song that Lian and Kuea sing to each other though so having to hear it twice was a bit painful. Actually both those scenes in general were just awkward to watch.

I will also comment that the whole engineering/university setting is massively overused and this was no exception. While the automotive engineering aspect was different and more interesting with the students working on their project, it still felt repetitive.

This is not a drama that I would ever recommend anyone to watch. It has no substance and instead promotes toxic relationships as being hot. It uses steamy scenes to make up for the fact it is lacking in anything remotely genuine. At times it felt like an infomercial about gender equality, but I couldn't take it seriously because none of the couples, aside from Nuer and Syn, portrayed anything resembling a healthy and normal relationship. I highly recommend NOT wasting your time with this one.

Read More

The Mafia Never Looked So Good

This was a drama that almost literally left my head spinning and not necessarily in a good way. It had so much potential and at first, it seemed like it was going to live up to all the hype, but that last episode just killed it for me. I can never understand why so many dramas struggle with this issue of saving everything for the last episode. Its incredibly frustrating and it rarely works out well. That being said, I didn't hate it.

The one saving grace of this drama is its actors. Every single one of them owns their character. While they were all superb, I really have to comment on Bible and Build as Vegas and Pete, respectively. Their acting and chemistry quite literally blew me away. The intensity of their scenes together, the way they played off of each other and their individual performances too, the nuance of it all just, wow. Literally left me speechless at times. But truly the whole cast was phenomenal. Mile and Apo's chemistry was absolute fire and those eyebrows! They were both just so good. And I can't forget Tong who absolutely stole the show as Tankhun. I can only imagine how much fun he had in that role.

The characters were another win for this drama. I have rarely seen a drama where characters left me with so many conflicting emotions. On the one hand, I appreciate that, it makes the story more interesting and keeps you glued to the screen. On the other hand, it also left some things feeling unfinished.
- Kinn was interesting right from the start. I appreciated the fact that, although he had bodyguards, it was obvious from the first that he was also perfectly capable of defending himself. That was refreshing. And watching him fall in love with Porsche was adorable. I really enjoyed the nuance of his character, the severe exterior but more sensitive, caring interior. His character development was well done, I thought. There's clear growth as he relaxes and becomes more comfortable being himself but he's still absolutely deadly. Beautifully done. My biggest qualm was his reaction, or lack of reaction, to Big's death as well as his lack of insight regarding Pete's disappearance. Honestly, the fact that Big's death was so completely ignored really pissed me off, but Kinn's complete dismissal of the person who had been his personal bodyguard at one point and was so completely loyal to him was off-putting and felt out of character. I wasn't expecting him to break down crying, but some kind of acknowledgement of the man who died to save his lover's life would have been nice. Same with Pete's disappearance. It was obvious he thought something was off and that he so easily dismissed it and that he even forgot that Pete had gone undercover seemed uncharacteristic.
- Porsche left me cringing the first couple of episodes. The level of second hand embarrassment was intense. I wasn't sure if I was going to like his character at first, because he frankly seemed like a bit of an idiot. I mean, he's offered this gig with the understanding that, in accepting it, his brother will be cared for. And yet he acts like a complete ass and makes it clear he doesn't care. He was obviously not an idiot so the fact that he acted with such disregard seemed weird to me. That being said, I also enjoyed seeing his character growth. One of the things I loved about this drama is that despite the character growth that all the characters undergo, they still remain fundamentally themselves. So while Porsche is softened and becomes less cocky and more serious, he's still Porsche. His tug of war for power with Kinn was fun to watch as was watching him slowly fall for him. As with Kinn, my biggest issue with Porsche was his complete lack of acknowledgement of Big's death. The man literally died to save your life and you can't take two seconds to mourn him? Again, it felt out of character. And while I liked his character development overall, there were aspects of it that did feel abrupt. It was like after he and Kinn were kidnapped and what they went through, he was suddenly more okay with what the family did. I would have liked to see a little more development with that.
- Tankhun was one of the highlights of the drama. He was just so much fun to watch with his dramatic outbursts and his fabulous fashion. While I wouldn't say that he had a huge amount of character growth, there was definitely some. I really liked that he was one of the most insightful characters. Everyone thought he was crazy, but there were times when he was actually the voice of reason. He knew Tawan was not to be trusted, but Porsche could be and that Pete was in danger. It added additional depth to his character that I really enjoyed.
- Pete came completely out of left field for me. I really liked his character from the get go, he's just so darn cute and funny. And yet, after being captured by Vegas, we see a whole other side to him. He's not the kind of character that you would typically think would hold up under torture, but he shows a resilience that's frankly astounding. On top of that, he is a genuinely good person. Despite the abuse he suffers at Vegas' hands, he reaches out to him and offers him comfort and friendship. His whole relationship with Vegas, though, I found very conflicting. I don't think it was a case of Stockholm Syndrome, but it was certainly not a particularly healthy relationship given it was initially born out of abuse and violence though at the end it seems to have taken a turn for the better. My only issue with Pete's character was in the last episode. Earlier in the drama, there's a scene where he tells Vegas that he's not a pet, he's a human but in the final episode, he tells Vegas that he's his pet and he had to go find his owner. I feel like there's an element of he's just trying to keep Vegas from killing himself and/or walking away, but there's also a note of truth to his tone that made me think he was willing to keep being Vegas' pet just so he wouldn't be left alone. That scene felt like a bit of regression for Pete's character and I didn't love it.
- Vegas was one of the most interesting, conflicting characters of the series. He was absolutely riveting to watch. I loved that I never knew what he was thinking or what the true purpose of his actions were. The way he vacillated between good guy and bad guy was fascinating to watch and I really liked that there were reasons for why he did what he did, namely because of his father. His developing relationship with Pete was very well done as was the change in that relationship from owner/pet to more equals. There's a certain twisted beauty to their relationship and while it left me feeling conflicted as to whether I should actually be rooting for them, I did enjoy watching it. I also appreciated how the drama illustrated that people handle abuse in different ways. While his father's abuse turned Vegas into a volatile, sadistic person, the abuse Pete endured from his father gave him insight into his father's actions and made him realize he was not the one at fault. I really appreciated that at the end of the last episode, Vegas tells Pete that he's not going to treat him like a pet anymore. It showed that their relationship was on a healthier track and at that point, I wished their little family all the best.
- I'm going to group Porchay and Kim together here. While I found Kim to be a somewhat interesting character, I found his relationship with Porchay to be unnecessary, distracting, and underdeveloped. To be honest though, I found his entire character to be lacking. While his focus on gathering information for his crime board was an intriguing concept, I never got a good idea of what exactly he was hoping to accomplish with it since it seemed like something he'd been working on for some time. What exactly was he looking for? I just would have liked to see him utilized as more than just a love interest. Porchay was, well, boring. Similarly to Kim, his sole purpose seemed to be acting as a love interest. He just wasn't well-developed. We knew he loved his brother and loved Kim, wanted to play music and that's about it. He cropped up when it was convenient and was pushed to the side the rest of the time. I also didn't get a good sense of why Kim even fell in love with him. They spent, a few days together tutoring, Porchay wrote a love song for him and that was it, he was in love? I don't buy it. And Porchay's feelings seemed more fanboy than in love especially since he didn't actually know Kim. The status of their relationship being left uncertain at the end of the drama was also frustrating. If you're going to make them a couple, at least give a satisfying conclusion. My only thought for why they left it that way is they're hoping for a spin-off with those two.
- Korn and Gun were honestly the most problematic characters for me in this drama just because there were so many questions left unanswered with both of them. I didn't feel like there was ever a clear resolution on who actually killed Porsche's father, though I lean towards believing Korn did the deed. And then there's the mystery of what Gun was going to say before he was killed. I found Korn's character to be more interesting than Gun, mostly because he was more nuanced. Gun was obviously meant to be seen as the bad guy, while Korn was supposed to be the more benevolent one though at the end he's revealed to be just as ruthless and cunning as his brother. And I'm sorry, but I cannot forgive Gun for wearing those shorts to a shoot out. I wasn't sure if I should laugh or just shake my head in embarrassment for him. In any case, I feel like this one of the areas that the series failed. It was so busy adding in minor scenes that didn't really accomplish anything that it failed to focus on the relationship between the two brothers and their history. A whole host of important information regarding the two of them was left until the last episode and there just wasn't enough time to do it justice.

The OST was awesome. I really loved the opening song, it fit the drama and mafia theme very well. I am also in love with the song Jeff Satur sings. Not only can he act, but he has an amazing voice. And the song is just beautiful. The visuals and cinematography were also quite good. The way they used the lighting in some scenes was very well done and worked to enhance the overall mood. The vast majority of the action scenes were well choreographed and were entertaining to watch.

Now for the parts that ended up killing this drama.
- For a drama about the mafia, there was very little information given about it and that whole concept took a backseat which was disappointing. It felt like it should be more central and play more of a role in the character's lives. Instead it felt like a prop piece that was only used when convenient. The world building in general left a lot to be desired.
- The pacing was also off. There just wasn't a good balance of important scenes and filler scenes. The last two episodes in particular were very rushed with a huge amount of information packed in and felt very half-assed. There's also the lack of a consistent plot. The first half or so of the drama was pretty good aside from the pacing. It seemed to generally know where it was headed and then it suddenly lost itself and it just went downhill from there. The ending left a fair number of unanswered or half answered questions. It didn't work for me.
-The attempts at comedy often fell flat. The jokes just weren't that funny and made me cringe. Don't get me wrong, there are some genuinely funny moments, but there are others that just don't work.
-I know I mentioned it before but the third couple of Porchay and Kim was just unnecessary.
- The ending was creepy to me. Porsche and Porchay's mother has brain damage and has no idea who they are, but they proceed to crowd this poor woman and touch and hug her without making sure she's okay with them doing so. I think it was meant to be a sweet, hopeful moment, they're together as a family again, but she just looked confused and uncomfortable and it made me uncomfortable watching it.
- There's an element of romanticizing abuse. The first time Kinn and Porsche have sex, Porsche is still under the influence of the drug Vegas gave him. Despite Porsche goading him and touching him, Kinn should have realized his actions were due to the drugs and he was in no shape to give consent. Yes, he does apologize, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the damage was done. The second time, in Vegas' bathroom, Porsche is drunk and again, Kinn engages in sexual activities with him. Even the first time they kiss, Porsche is drunk and high. And then there's Pete and Vegas' relationship which starts out in an incredibly toxic and unhealthy way. And like I said before, I won't go so far as to say it's an example of Stockholm Syndrome because I think Pete is made of sterner stuff than that and its hinted that there's attraction on both sides before he's kidnapped, it is obviously not an ideal way to start a relationship and it does perpetuate that kind of toxicity is hot which is dangerous. Vegas in particular is a complicated, conflicting character and their relationship is equally complicated and conflicting but ultimately, its not healthy and they both desperately need therapy.
- Finally, the number and explicitness of the sex scenes frankly surprised me. This is the only BL I've seen to this point that's featured actual sex scenes and this level of nudity. No full frontal, but a fair number of bare asses are scene throughout. There's also a scene where several characters watch porn. Though nothing is explicitly seen, it is heard.

I really wanted to love this drama especially since I kept hearing people talk about how amazing it was, but while I enjoyed it, I don't feel like its the best drama I've ever seen, not even close. There were a lot of issues in terms of plot and pacing and in the end it just couldn't realize the story that was attempting to be told. It is a nice break from the typical BL college setting, I just wish more time had been spent making sure there was a story that made sense.

Read More

Désenchanté

I was so intrigued by the concept of this drama, the mystery of who Enchanté was, and the first half or so of the drama was decent while that mystery continued to unfold, but the moment it was revealed who Enchanté was, things started to go downhill fast and ultimately I found this drama to be a disappointment.

The story started out interesting, if a bit improbable. Out of all the library books in this huge library, someone happened to also select this French book and decide to write back to Theo. Alright, fine, I'll go with it. And then all four ambassadors of the school show up declaring that they are Enchanté. That's where things get both interesting and messy. Interesting in the sense that Theo and Akk's relationship starts to develop more. We get some really cute moments with the two of them. Messy because of the four Enchanté's, three of them turn out be stalkers/manipulators. And then eventually comes the reveal of Enchanté as Theo himself which I'm guessing was supposed to be seen as a brilliant twist, but was in fact a huge disappointment.

A huge part of the issue with this drama was the acting. The chemistry between the leads was hot and cold. There were a few scenes where I could feel a spark, but there were a lot of times, especially towards the end where it just wasn't there. Book, I'm sorry to say, just really didn't bring it. I get that he was playing a character that was a terrible human being, but I don't feel like he brought anything redeemable to the character and I think he could have if he had played it different. Force seemed to be relying on his looks more than anything. He does have some good moments, but he needs to work on consistency and engaging more in the scenes. Overall, nobody really stood out in terms of acting. It was all just very mediocre, which is disappointing, because with better writing, directing, and a more charismatic/talented actor playing Theo, it might have been a decent drama.

The only real likable character in all this was Akk. He's a genuinely good guy who cares about others. He's willing to help Theo find his Enchanté, even though it hurts him to do so. He doesn't even judge Theo when he finds out he was Enchanté that whole time. And when Theo runs back to France, he works his ass off to earn a scholarship to study there so they can be together again. He deserves so much better than Theo. Theo, on the other hand, is a self-absorbed narcissist, bordering on an egomaniac, if I'm being perfectly honest. I kind of get his reasoning for becoming Enchanté with wanting Akk's attention, but then again, he already had Akk's attention. It's how long he let's the lie go on that's the issue for me. He could see the problems it was causing so why did he let it keep going? I really don't understand it, and it just feeds the idea that getting what he wanted was more important than the issues it might cause, which, again, self-serving much? He's also just incredibly immature, blowing up at Akk for not telling him about his parents' separation, which as Akk tells him, he didn't feel was his place to tell him, and won't listen to reason. He really is just insufferable. The four false Enchanté's started out kind of interesting, but quickly became problematic and by the end, three of the four were left pretty much unredeemable. Natee was basically a stalker. How Theo wasn't more freaked out seeing his art exhibition, I don't know. Maybe being a guy gives a different perspective, but as a woman, I would have been full out panicking seeing that. Also the fact that no one else seemed to see it as weird or a cause for concern. Natee, Wayo and Phupha were all manipulative. Natee with finding a place for his art exhibition, Wayo with trying to hide the fact that he'd lost the team's money gambling, and Phupha with trying to get a scholarship without actually putting in the work. How exactly Wayo and Phupha figured they would be able to pull off their schemes without Theo figuring out what they were up to, I don't know, considering those aren't exactly minor things they're going after. Saifa was supposed to be the "real" Enchanté as requested by Theo. I honestly found him pretty forgettable other than he did have a decent singing voice.

The OST was okay, not totally forgettable, but also not super memorable.

Is this a drama I recommend? No, not really. If you have nothing better to do, then sure, go for it. It's easily bingeable and it does have a few cute moments, but there are far better BLs out there to watch than this one that I would recommend checking out first.

Read More

Toxic, Not Naughty

I am still wondering why I bothered to watch this drama. I wasn't a fan of Cutie Pie, toxic relationships made to look cute are not my thing, but the trailer made me wonder if this drama would put some of that in the past. I should have known better. Naughty Babe, quite simply, is a disaster. I'm not sure what was worse: changing the original story, the lack of plot, the complete lack of character development despite years having gone by, or the acting. Honestly take your pick.

So let's start with the story. There really wasn't one. Honestly it felt like a toddler throwing anything and everything at a piece of paper and calling it a masterpiece. With only 8 episodes, they needed to stick to a central story line and they just didn't. The mystery of who messed with Diao's car and caused Yi to crash is probably the most consistent story line, but even it falls flat. The choice to change the childhood attack Diao suffered from a dog to a tiger was absurd. The CGI tiger was awful and the change didn't serve any purpose other than creating inconsistencies and erasing some of the development in their relationship from Cutie Pie. Because it was so disjointed, the pacing felt off. It never got a good rhythm going and I struggled to stay invested. Things like their plan for the wedding was just so nonsensical and out of the box, and not in a good way. They were in on the plan together, so why Diao kept going on about being afraid he was going to hurt Yi and break his heart and blah blah blah just didn't make sense. And the ending, maybe it was just me, but it felt like there was a level of favoritism for their son over their daughter. They interacted far more with him than they did with her, especially considering it was her birthday. Again, could just be me reading into it too much.

One of the biggest issues though truly was the complete lack of character development. It's supposed to have been what, 6 years or something since Cutie Pie and three since Cutie Pie 2 You and literally nothing has changed in their relationship. In fact, they've taken steps backward. I didn't watch it, but my understanding is that a lack of development was present in Cutie Pie 2 You as well. Relationships change over time, that's just a fact. That Diao and Yi's relationship remained so stagnant shows that the writers and production had no clue what they were doing. Because of the foolish decision to change the attack to a tiger, some of the issues between them that had been dealt with or at least acknowledged were rendered pointless and they were right back where they started. And you would think, after all the time they'd been together, that they would have figured some things out. But no, they are still unable to communicate effectively, they make assumptions, there's a clear lack of trust and understanding between them, oh, but they're madly in love. Cue eye roll. The imbalance in their relationship is still very present. There are times that Yi comes across almost as more of a father with his controlling ways than as a fiancé. And Diao, for all that he does stand up for himself on occasion, it never seems to be when it matters or when it would do the most good. Frankly, they're just frustrating to watch. And a bit disturbing, because, all joking aside, at the heart, their relationship is not one built on love, but rather years of manipulation and Diao being conditioned to rely on Yi. And that is simply not addressed. It just points back to the fact that nothing has changed since Cutie Pie and their relationship is just as toxic and discordant as it was then.

Lian and Kuea reappear and while Lian does have his useful moments serving as a sounding board for Yi and actually giving solid advice at times, Kuea causes some issues by sticking his nose where it doesn't belong and making incorrect assumptions that he then feeds back to Diao. Together they're alternately vaguely amusing and mildly cute. While their relationship in Cutie Pie displayed the same imbalance as seen with Diao and Yi, they seem to be on more equal footing here. Nuea and Syn also pop up briefly and bring a few moments of levity. The only other character that I actually liked was Yi's father. He had a decent balance of comedy and seriousness that worked fairly well.

Nat and Max are not the strongest of actors and expecting them to carry their own show was asking a lot. Of the two, Nat was the more compelling to watch. His expressions are limited and there's really no nuance to his acting, but it feels more authentic. Max is just wooden and his emotions always felt very surface level. It looked like he was acting.

The production value was meh. There was nothing special about it. The product placement was incredibly annoying and distracting. It's been a minute since I saw a drama that was so in your face with it. And the music felt pretty generic. Nothing like Cutie Pie which had some decent and catchy songs.

Naughty Babe is simply a continuation of the toxic relationship first shown in Cutie Pie and a further romanticization of it. I don't generally totally regret watching a drama, but I fully regret taking the time to watch this one. There is frankly nothing positive about it and unless you are a die hard Cutie Pie or Diao/Yi fan, I would avoid it like the plague. You'll never get those hours back.

Read More

Lightyears of Poetry

I believe everyone at one point or another in their lives has wished for the chance to go back and change the past, do things differently, fix past mistakes, etc., I know I certainly have. What Be My Favorite does so well is show that making those changes isn't as simple as we might like to think. It requires personal growth, pushing outside our comfort zone, thinking about more than just oneself and sticking around to maintain those changes, plus a touch of magic, of course. This drama was so beautifully done, so well thought out and executed, it has certainly become one of my favorites.

The story, dealing with time travel, could have been great or a total flop. The way it was handled made it great. Rather than getting into the mechanics of time travel and trying to make it too sci-fi, it explained just enough for things to make sense and didn't go any deeper. The story as a whole though did feel deep. This isn't just a fluff drama, it actually has substance and quite a lot at that. It touches on various issues, but rather than being preachy like some dramas get, those elements were added in an organic way that flowed and worked within the story. Those issues included LGBTQ+ rights both as a whole and more specifically the lack of those rights when it comes to medical care, alcoholism regarding both the pros and cons of drinking alcohol and why some may choose not to drink and that is totally okay, and grief in understanding that there are some things that simply cannot be changed and learning to grieve for that loss, but also accept it. Despite the sci-fi elements, there was a very realistic feel to everything. Aspects such as the gap between the rich and poor were shown, how someone does in school does not define them or their abilities, that we won't succeed at everything and failure is a part of life but doesn't need to define it, and our actions truly do have consequences both good and bad.

The pacing is very nearly perfect. There are one or two spots that are a touch slow, but not obnoxiously so. One aspect that I really liked was the way the passage of time was handled. Comments, brief shots of calendars and the like helped make it clear that time was passing. But the crowning touch was the montage in Episode 10 which was absolutely perfect and so much better than a sudden time jump. Not only did it provide a myriad of cute moments between Kawi and Pisaeng, but it also showed how their relationship had progressed over time. Other dramas should take note, this is the way you do it.

I don't think there was a single character that I didn't like in some capacity. No one felt superfluous, they all served some kind of purpose. What helped was keeping the cast pretty tight. Yes, there were scenes with more characters, but they kept the core group small. Not having a second couple helped a lot and allowed the full focus to be on Kawi and Pisaeng which was good since the build up of their relationship was a bit of a slow burn. That focus enabled them to better show their changing feelings, particularly with Kawi. The best part of their relationship though was the communication between them. I cannot even describe how refreshing it was to see such a healthy relationship portrayed where both parties truly respected each other and actively sought to communicate with each other. Even better was that it was shown throughout and was a core aspect of their relationship. And the importance of communication was echoed in other relationships, between Pisaeng and his mother, Pear and her parents, and even with Kwan and Knot.

Kawi was a great character. His growth was so well done as he learned to step outside himself and take his life in his own hands to influence it rather than just letting things happen to him. He made conscious decisions to fix things and make changes to himself. It was his willingness to acknowledge his faults and then correct them that enabled him to change his future. Pisaeng was another great character. Similarly to Kawi, he had his faults, but he too was willing to address and correct them as he actively listened to the criticisms he was given. His obvious respect for Kawi as a person and as a lover was clear and refreshing. Also refreshing were the characters of Max and Pear. Max was not just the token gay friend, he was a fully realized character who served as a sounding board for both Kawi and Pisaeng. And his advice and comments were usually pretty on the nose. He supported them both unconditionally while adding a good dose of humor at times. Similarly, Pear was not the token female friend. Again, she was a fully realized character and, as a woman, I cannot describe how much I loved that. She wasn't the jealous ex-girlfriend or wannabe girlfriend and her only purpose wasn't to be a supportive friend, though she was that. She had her own hopes and dreams as well as struggles that she had to deal with. Communication was again a key element with her in regards to her relationships with both Kawi and Pisaeng. Pisaeng's lack of communication regarding his feelings towards her was actually a source of pain for her, despite the fact that was exactly why he hadn't said anything, so he wouldn't cause her pain. It showed that sometimes silence is not golden and being open is actually the better option.

I've seen most of the cast in at least one other drama if not more, so I had high expectations for them and they did not disappoint in the slightest. Having only seen Krist in SOTUS, I was excited to see him play a character so polar opposite from that of Arthit. He was phenomenal, completely embodying the character of Kawi with all his quirks and awkwardness. And his chemistry with Gawin was fantastic. They played off of each other beautifully and had such a great connection. I will say it's a subtler chemistry than seen in other BLs, but I really liked it and felt it worked within the context of the story. I've seen Gawin in a few dramas and was thrilled that he finally got a leading role. He acts a lot through his eyes and he does so effectively, this time was no different. Despite having less experience than other cast members, he absolutely held his own. Aye is a seasoned and talented actress that I've seen in several dramas. She did a great job at giving Pear depth and really making her emotions and turmoil understood and felt. Similar to Gawin, Aou is less experienced, but I've found him to be quite a versatile actor. He gave a grounded feel to the character of Max as well as a certain level of assuredness that gave his character more substance.

The production was very well done. The cinematography was beautiful and the music was fantastic. Both Krist and Gawin are very talented singers and they certainly did the soundtrack justice.

Despite the numerous lessons and themes woven into the plot of Be My Favorite, I think one of the biggest takeaways is simply to live in the present. Too often we look to the future, imagining how things might be and we miss what's right in front of us. Kawi's life improves when he stops looking to the future and instead lives in the present. I think it's a good reminder for all of us. I cannot recommend this drama enough, it is truly one of the best I've seen, one that I foresee I'll be coming back to multiple times.

Read More

More Home, Less School

Home School is in no way a perfect drama. It has a fair number of flaws, but despite those flaws, I enjoyed it immensely. There were aspects that were done quite well and though it completely goes beyond the realm of possibility or reality, the fact that it was committed to that absurdity and as long as I went with the flow and didn't question too much, it worked. I found it to be interesting, heartwarming at times, mysterious at others. There weren't any huge surprises, I felt like most of the plot twists were relatively simple to either have figured out by the time they were revealed or have an inkling so that it wasn't a total shock. Considering some of of the disappointing dramas I've seen recently, it was refreshing to have one that kept me hooked.

I enjoyed the story for the most part. I felt like it did try to make things out to be more dark and mysterious than they really were, but I didn't hate that. The one thing about this series is that it really requires you to take things on faith. I know basically nothing about hypnosis, but I am almost 100% certain that the way hypnosis is used and treated in this series is not the way it actually works, otherwise we'd have people running around hypnotizing others right and left. It was an interesting and unique take though and once I stopped asking too many questions about it, I found it interesting. Same with the "medicine" that Master Dilak and several others were taking. There's no real explanation regarding this medicine, how it was scientifically formulated or anything like that. It's another part that you just kind of need to go with. The school part of Home School was largely absent. There's very little shown of the students actually studying and more of them playing "games" that are supposed to teach them something. There's also a distinct lack of knowledge regarding time progression. Given the school setting I feel like it should have been relatively simple for them to give hints as to how much time was passing, but nothing of the sort is given. There were a few plot holes and some things that didn't make sense. One of the biggest ones was why anyone, including Master Amin, ever thought Master Prasat was in any way trustworthy. The man seemed unstable even in the past so why anyone thought it was a good idea to let him hypnotize Master Amin and why no one, other than Master Puth, connected the dots between this and Master Amin's change in behaviour is beyond me. Touching back on the hypnosis, the fact that some were apparently immune to it's effects like Run, was not well explained. I do feel that things were wrapped up a touch too neatly. I found it hard to believe that the parents gave in that easily to having their memories erased. Considering what we knew about some of them, it felt like a stretch. The pacing was a bit laggy at times, mostly about halfway through. There were certainly episodes where it didn't feel like anything of real importance occurred, but the beginning and ending episodes I felt were pretty well paced.

This was a large cast and I thought they did a decent job of balancing out the characters, better than a lot of dramas I've seen. The students, none of whom looked 16 except maybe Phleng and Pennueng, obviously got the most focus and I really liked how in those first couple of episodes they allowed the audience to get to know them and understand how their personalities and behaviour were developed by the abuse of their families. It explained a lot and in some cases made me feel a tad more sympathy for them like in the cases of Hugo and Jingjai who I had really disliked up until that moment. They were never my favorite characters even afterward, but I at least could understand them a bit better. My biggest qualm was the lack of background on any of the Masters other than Master Amin, particularly Master Prasat. Considering he was the big bad, I really wanted to know his story and what made him tick/made him so deranged. We get one comment that he was abused by his father, but that was it. I wanted more. Same with the other Masters. We got a brief snip that Master Champ was a national athlete, but again, that was it. And with him I wanted to know why he was so loyal to Master Prasat. Was it strictly because Master Prasat didn't oppress him and gave him an outlet or was there more?

I thought they had a good diversity among the students in terms of character and personality. No two were quite the same. I enjoyed the build up of their friendships, though that did eventually fall to the wayside. I will say, for all that Master Amin kept praising them for being exceptional, I didn't actually find them to be that clever. With the majority of the games they played, I had the answers figured out pretty quickly and I would not consider myself particularly smart. I suppose you could say that environment played into it and I was certainly not in the same situation as they were which could affect one's ability to problem solve. Even then, they made things far more complicated than necessary most of the time. I did find it interesting how they separated them into groups to an extent. Obviously there was our main group of four with Maki, White, Tibet and Nai. I liked their dynamic together and thought they made a good, central group where most of the focus stayed. They were occasionally joined by Pennueng and Phleng who were quite cute together and I did like when they joined the main group. Neither was particularly strong, but they were incredibly loyal and their bravery came out when it came down to helping or protecting their friends. The others were a bit more scattered. Hugo and Jingjai paired off pretty much from the beginning and Jean and Biu paired off eventually as well. Mek and Mork, despite their initial animosity, did still stick together for the most part and Fuji was her own woman for the most part. The fact that they ended up removing half the cast in the last five or six episodes was a bit odd and could have been done better. I can understand why they did it to streamline the plot, but it was also jarring.

I did feel that pairing everyone off there at the end was unnecessary. Hugo and Jingjai again had been together pretty much from the get go with Maki and Tibet and White and Nai's relationships developing over the course of the series. Pennueng and Phleng I felt could go either way. I liked them as platonic friends but didn't necessarily object to that turning romantic since their relationship had also been built up. Jean and Biu though and Fuji with Mek and Mork was not my cup of tea. We knew that Biu liked Jean since she had mentioned it at one point, but aside from their one conversation, we didn't see them together much. And while Mek and Mork defended Fuji to her father which obviously endeared them to her, the seemingly pairing her up with them felt like a stretch. Now their relationship could very well be platonic and nothing more, but since they were showing all the various couples, it seemed implied.

In terms of individual characters, there were some that I really liked and others that I didn't. Some characters had some really great character development and others not so much.
-Maki was a character that I actually liked for the most part. I think they tried to make her seem far more clever than she actually was and she was a little too perfect, but she worked. Her backstory gave her layer of interest as she worked to uncover her past as well as find her brother. That being said, her character development felt pretty minimal for the most part which was a bit disappointing. On the other hand though, she stayed true to herself, so there's something to be said for that.
-Tibet more appealed to me because of his relationship with Maki than as individual. I felt they played off each other well, but otherwise he was a bit bland. I felt his reactions to finding out about his mother's as well as his father's deaths were a bit too subdued. Personally, I felt he should have had more emotion with finding out that his father probably hadn't committed suicide and had more drive to find out what happened, but given that it's implied his father was absent for a large part of his life, I also can't totally find fault with his having other priorities at the time given everything going on. His character development also felt pretty minimal.
-White was fantastic. I loved her badass attitude and the way that she didn't take crap from anyone. She was definitely a hot head, but she was also intelligent and under the attitude, she really did care about others. I enjoyed her friendship with Maki and the way they supported each other. Also, her punching out her aunt was a great scene. As much as I really liked her character though, she was another one that didn't seem to have a huge amount of growth.
-Nai was a lot like Tibet for me. I liked his relationship with White and with their group of four, but as an individual he was a tad boring. I also felt he was more inconsistent in terms of his character. He would go from chill to ready to punch someone out to trying to be funny. And it didn't feel like it was deliberate, more like the writers forgot how his character would typically react. He also didn't have a whole lot character growth.
-Pennueng was precious and I was almost immediately protective of him, like do not mess with him. I liked how it was portrayed that just because he was different, didn't mean that he was stupid or incapable. He was in fact quite smart as well as caring and brave. His development was great, going from someone very fearful who struggled to talk to anyone to someone who had friends and could communicate with and help them.
-Phleng was another character I liked and thought had decent character development. She started out so innocent only for it to be found that she lied and even hurt herself to gain attention. Of course, we learn that this is because she found that was the only way to get attention from her mother. She grew from that though and turned into a very sweet person who wanted to help others and worked to better herself.
-Fuji was hit or miss for me. Sometimes I liked her, other times I found her infuriating. There was a part of me that applauded her down with the patriarchy attitude, but I also felt she overdid it. Just because your father is a world class ass doesn't mean every man is and I thought her finally figuring that out when Mek and Mork defended her was a bit late considering most of the guys were pretty decent and had proven that multiple times.
-Biu started out bubbly and sweet, but after finding out the Phleng was a liar, it seemed like her whole attitude changed and she was much less pleasant. I don't have a whole of an opinion regarding her, especially since she was one of the characters who disappeared there towards the end.
-Jean really didn't leave much of an impression. He was one of the least featured students and aside from him being a real jerk there at the beginning and then going head to head with Fuji, he just wasn't that memorable.
-Hugo was one of my least favorite characters because he was such a total ass. Finding out his backstory helped soften my feelings towards him some, but there was also an element of too little, too late. Also he was bullying Pennueng who I loved so I wasn't willing to feel too sympathetic. That being said, he did have a good character development and while he was still very much himself there at the end, he had also softened and wasn't the sadistic tool that he had been.
-Jingjai was in very much the same boat as Hugo. She was my least favorite character along with Hugo because she was such a total b***h. Again, finding out her backstory helped some, but did not completely alleviate my dislike. Like Hugo though, I found her character development to be positive and liked that she remained herself while still growing and becoming a better person.
-Run was an interesting character. I liked him, but I also wanted to know more about him. I felt like there was a lot left unexplained with him that would have been helpful to know. Still, he was a good character and while I didn't necessarily see how he was as exceptional as everyone seemed to think aside from being able to hypnotize others and succumb to others attempts to brain wash him, he did come across as intelligent.

The acting was a mixed bag as usual, but there were a couple of standouts. Gun as always was fantastic. I don't think I've disliked his acting in any drama I've watched him in, he always brings his A game. Chimon blew me away. I've seen him in a couple dramas, all of which I've found him to be a good actor, but nothing exceptional. If I ever had any doubts that he could act, they are gone because he was just brilliant as Pennueng. Chalad as Prasat was also excellent. That laugh of his was positively mental and everything about him just screamed that he was unstable, but in the best way. Papang surprised and impressed me as Master Champ. I've liked him in the dramas I've seen and thought he was a talented actor, but his performance here was unlike anything I've seen from him and he was delightfully deranged. Someone please make him a lead, he deserves it. And finally, Khaotung who came in during the last minute or so and almost blew everyone out of the water. I knew that he had a bit role and wondered if it was Zero since his character was mentioned several times, but was surprised when I was right. Another actor that I know is talented, but had never seen in this kind of role and holy crap did he own it. Just absolutely insane, both literally and figuratively. Film's acting was nothing spectacular, she seemed wooden at times, but there were other times when she did quite well. Jane was good, again, I really liked White's character, however, she seems to act about the same with a number of the characters she's portrayed, so I wouldn't call her acting spectacular. While it was fun to see Joong and Sing as young Amin and Bodin respectively and they did act well, I thought they both looked too young for the characters they were portraying. I felt like they worked initially with the 1980 timeframe since it sounded like they should be in their late teens/early twenties, but when it jumped to 1991 and they still looked exactly the same, it stopped working. I feel like GMMTV has a bit of a habit of casting actors who aren't age appropriate, I'm thinking of them trying to make us believe that Earth could pass as an almost 40-something in Moonlight Chicken, and, for me at least, it really pulls me out of the moment. They could have used makeup or something to make them look older if they wanted to stick with those actors but it didn't look like they made any effort.

To sum it all up, I really enjoyed this drama. I found it to be lightly dark and moody with a pretty decent cast and some interesting characters. Like I said at the beginning, it's not perfect, but it is fun. The ending sets up a second season which I would not object to provided it has a good story. A second season could also be used to fill in some of the holes and give better clarity to other aspects. This is a drama that I would certainly recommend and one that I will be rewatching in the future.

Read More

Plots Are So Last Year

I'm going to preface this by saying that I very, very rarely drop dramas. I may put them on hold, but I generally will eventually finish them. I was sorely tempted to drop this drama after the first episode. The only reason I completed it is because it was only 10 episodes. Any longer than that and I wouldn't have continued. I kept hoping that things would get better, that a plot would emerge, the characters would get better, the sometimes confusing editing would improve, but it never did. It was just a giant ball of disappointment from beginning to end.

First of all, there's no plot here. I'm not even kidding, it is literally non-existent. It's like they threw a bunch of ideas into a bowl, blended it and popped it in the oven expecting something good to emerge. Suffice to say, that plan failed epically. I think they may have been going for a slice of life drama, but it's so poorly done that it's impossible to tell. It felt like a lot of the plot, miniscule as it was, revolved around bubble tea, orange juice, and snacks. There were far, far too many characters. I'm used to Thai BLs having a bloated cast, but this one really took the cake. I couldn't even begin to keep track of half the characters and some would pop in and out and it would be like, who are you and why should I care? Inconsistencies run rife throughout the whole of the drama. They just add to the general confusion and make the non-existent plot even more obvious.

The romantic aspects were by and large a joke. Two of Tin's friends would randomly pop up on dates throughout the drama which was weird and nonsensical. They weren't featured enough for me to have an opinion about them or care about their relationship. I just found them annoying. And Tin and Park didn't make much more sense. Tin spends half the drama pining after Park with Park pushing him away and insisting they're just brothers and then it's like a switch gets flipped and suddenly he's declaring his love and becoming all lovey dovey. I got whiplash with that one cause there was basically no build up. Yes, it was obvious that he was jealous of Tin spending time with Phloen, but that was it. And then, because the writer apparently decided the last episode or so needed to finish with a bang, we have multiple spats between Tin and Park that were stupid and added nothing. I didn't even know what they were fighting about half the time. The only couple, if you can really call them that, that I liked was Pao and Khana. They get very little screen time, but they had chemistry and felt like they worked well together. Unfortunately, we get a single make out scene between them and that's really it. It's implied that they're in a relationship, but not really confirmed and they don't really act like they're in a relationship, at least not overtly. There are some subtle clues, but I would have liked something more obvious, more of them spending time together one on one getting to know each other and clearer signs that they were together.

As far as the characters go, they were a bit of a mixed bag.
-Tin was the most annoying character ever. It was like a whiny toddler was placed in a college age man's body. Seriously, 90% of what he did was whine and complain. And that's what he acts like for the entirety of the drama. He doesn't really mature or develop, it's just ten episodes of this man child constantly proclaiming his love for Park and pouting when Park doesn't act the way he wants him to. And the sad thing is, I could have liked him. He had moments where he was very sweet and compassionate towards others, moments of vulnerability, where I could see the potential the character had, but then he opened his mouth and that went right out the window.
-As for Park, what on earth did he even see in him? He talks about how cute he is, but I've rarely seen anyone less cute. I really did not get a good impression of why he fell in love with Tin or even why Tin fell in love with him, though the fact that he's clearly smart, handsome, and charming when he wants to be certainly helps. Also, the age gap between them was confusing. Flashbacks made it seem like they were fairly close in age, they were both wearing the same high school or middle school uniforms, but then you have Tin who seems to be a freshman in college and Park is already a full certified nurse. It doesn't add up.
-Barbie was a hit or miss for me. Sometimes I really liked her, other times I found her to be a bit annoying/boring. For the most part though, I liked her determination to forge her own path in the world and the way she was there for her friends.
-I really liked Pai. I know she wasn't in there much, but I enjoyed the scenes she was in. She was a straight forward, no nonsense kind of character, but she had moments of vulnerability that just made me want to give her a hug. The scene where she talks about how she came back for her brother and she was willing to sacrifice her freedom for him was a powerful one. I thought it was so sad that her parent's didn't realize what a gem of a daughter they had.
-I also liked Pao and Khana. They were such a study in opposites which I think is part of why I liked their relationship, minimal as it was. Pao, the golden child that everyone loves and compares others to, who has so perfected that façade, even his friends aren't aware of it. Everyone thinks he has such a great life and he has his life together, while under the surface he's depressed, he's struggling to the point that he turns to drugs. And then there's Khana, an apparently former drug addict, who's turned over a new leaf and is striving to become a better person. My heart went out to both of them and the struggles they faced and, again, I would have really liked for them to have more screen time learning about each other and helping each other grow.
-The other characters really didn't leave much of an impression. Phloen was cute but forgettable and Tin's friends were by and large annoying.

The acting was pretty subpar all around. Tiger, besides playing such an obnoxious character, was boring to watch which didn't help matters. There was no nuance to his acting, it all just felt very, very repetitive. He needed to massively tone down his character but it seems over the top is what he went for. Run wasn't much better. I've seen him in other dramas and liked him. He's the main reason I even watched this drama actually. But he was also pretty boring to watch with many of the same facial expressions appearing again and again and very little emotion a lot of the time. You can play a quieter character without being boring but he apparently didn't get that memo. The chemistry between the two was non-existent. Their kissing scenes were just awkward to watch. They didn't seem fully comfortable with each other and that definitely translated to the screen. The rest of the cast wasn't quite as glaringly bad, but no one really stood out to me. I will give credit though to Lee and Tong because they actually did have chemistry. Again, I wanted more of them!

The production value was pretty meh. There was a number of awkwardly cut scenes where there was just no transition, it would abruptly jump from one scene to a completely different one with no reference as to what's going on. It made following the story at times much harder than it needed to be. The music was another forgettable aspect. I honestly don't remember anything about it.

This drama is just bad all around. It's simply not worth the time or energy to watch it. This isn't one of those dramas that's so bad it's good, or is at least moderately entertaining. You gain nothing from watching it other than a desperate desire for it to end. Seriously, don't bother with this one.

Read More

Approved By The School President

Slice of life type dramas can be hit or miss. Too close to reality and they can stray into dangerously mundane territory, too far from reality and they run the risk of the story becoming ridiculous. My School President manages to toe that line very well, staying pretty well within the lines of reality while delivering a heartwarming story.

The main focus of the story is on characters Tinn and Gun. Due to some unfortunate circumstances the previous year, Gun's Music Club is at risk of being cancelled. In order to save it, Tinn, who has harbored a two year crush on Gun, runs for and succeeds at becoming school president. There are two problems though: Tinn is the principal's son who is leading the charge to cancel the Music Club and Gun has no idea that Tinn is on his side. With the help of his friend Tiw and his own brains (it also helps that Gun and his friends are not the sharpest knives in the drawer), Tinn succeeds in convincing Gun that he is on his club's side so that they can bring glory to their school by winning the Hot Wave music contest. And what started as a reluctant partnership start to develop into something more.

Part of what I really enjoyed about this drama is that while it is most certainly a BL, that is not the sole focus. Friendship and family also play huge roles throughout. I really appreciated the realism of the boys' friendship. Like any group of friends going through high stress situations, they had their ups and downs, but in the end they always made up. Despite their differences in personality, they meshed together really well, and I really loved their friendship, how they were there for each other and how supportive they were. I also enjoyed their comedic side which could be a bit over the top and overdone at times, but for the most part I liked it. Gun and Tinn's families played a large role in their lives and it was so interesting to see the difference in parenting styles. Both families obviously loved their sons tremendously, but the more freewheeling style of parenting the Gun's mother had with him meant that their relationship was much more open. Unlike Tinn who was terrified of his mother finding out about their relationship, Gun was able to calmly tell him mom about it and it really wasn't a big deal. For her, his happiness was most important. Tinn's mom obviously loved him as well, but had more of the focus of him having a stable future and was more concerned about how he would be perceived and what trials he might face with his sexual orientation. It becomes clear that she's not homophobic, it just never crossed her mind that her son might be gay, and, again, she's afraid of how the world is going to treat him. The way she defends him and Kajorn with the homophobic teacher though was positively glorious. Seriously, dude, never screw with a kid in front of his mom, big mistake!

Every part of the pacing of this drama was well done from the story itself to the romance. I didn't feel like there was any lag, there were no filler episodes, it all just flowed really well. And again, I have to point out the realism of this drama. I feel like some BLs cater a little too much to everything must be rainbows and unicorns and I really liked that the characters had to deal with real life trials and disappointments. I was really up in the air on whether I wanted them to win the Hot Wave contest. On the one hand, I do like happy endings and I honestly wouldn't have minded if they did win because they had obviously worked their butts off for it, but on the other hand, realistically, in a final competition, the other bands were going to be pretty dang good as well. And I appreciated that they didn't just bounce back after their loss like it was nothing. Again the realism there. Some people are capable of just moving on, but others aren't and I liked that it was explored a little more. The development of the romance felt pretty natural. I liked that while Gun obviously thought and hoped he was the one Tinn liked, he didn't just blurt that out. Once again, I found that realistic. You want to believe that you're the one, but the fear of voicing it because what if you're wrong? My one complaint was the constant blocked kisses got a little bit old after a while. It was kind of cute initially, but after the third or fourth time it felt like it was time to move on. I enjoyed the side couple of Win and Sound. I felt their relationship was pretty well developed and I liked the way their characters interacted. They weren't this picture perfect couple, they were both a bit hot headed, but, in the end, they did care about each other. On the other hand, Tiw and Por was a sideish couple that I felt came out of nowhere right there toward the end. I honestly was not a fan of them because I didn't feel like there was any buildup. It really felt like they were just thrown in there out of the blue. I think they could have been cute, but I needed more time to see their relationship developing.

The music is definitely the highlight of this drama. These are some seriously talented kids. While the music isn't original, and they're all covers, they still brought their own flavor and style and there wasn't a song that I didn't enjoy. There were a couple that I actually enjoyed more than the originals frankly. The songs fit well within the story and, in general, were just well chosen.

For a bunch of newbie actors, I was pretty impressed. There were definitely moments that it was obvious they're still pretty green, but for the most part, they delivered! Gemini and Fourth had really great chemistry together, they seemed comfortable, their interactions were natural and not forced at all. Separately, they could both be a bit hit or miss in some of the more emotional scenes. Fourth has great facial expressions, he really emotes, and he has expressive eyes. Gemini's emotions didn't always reach to his eyes, I noticed, but I thought he made good use of his body language. Again, for baby actors all around, they did great and I can't wait to see them in future projects.

I honestly cannot recommend this drama enough. It is just so well done on every level. We are treated to healthy relationships, both romantic and otherwise. There is none of the husband/wife nonsense, they are just boyfriends which is so refreshing. Despite having a relatively large cast, the characters are well developed and nuanced. Even the more minor characters are well done and have a purpose. It has a plot that it sticks to and carries out well. There is just so much that it does right and so little that it gets wrong. This is definitely not a drama you want to miss.

Read More

Perfectly Vengeful

Perfect Marriage Revenge is not the kind of drama I typically get into, but every once in a while one catches my attention and I'll end up watching it. And what fun it was! Brought back to life after suffering a lifetime of abuse and neglect, Yi Joo comes back for revenge, but along the way finds love and the family she'd never dared to hope for. It's one of those dramas that you know is going to have a happy ending, but the ride to get there is a touch bumpy and the drama is delicious.

I tend to struggle with Makjangs because they always feel slightly too long and somewhere in the middle things start to lag and I lose interest. At 12 episodes though, Perfect Marriage Revenge mostly avoided that issue because there was so much going on that there just wasn't a whole lot of time for filler nonsense. There's a fairy tale element here, I think someone mentioned Cinderella, which is certainly apt given the evil stepmother and sister vibe, but in this case, Cinderella is, in many ways, her own fairy godmother and the handsome prince is more than just a pretty face. Yi Joo spent her entire life as a door mat, letting pretty much anyone and everyone walk all over her. Yet, despite the extreme abuse she suffered, she refused to let it turn her bitter, at least until she's on her deathbed and begins to realize just how deep that abuse ran. Given a second chance at life, she sets out to take revenge on her adopted family and utterly destroy them for the pain they caused her. Her first move, is stealing her sister's love interest, who is all too willing to join forces with Yi Joo. Do Guk had fallen in love with Yi Joo before he even really met her, her paintings capturing him, and when they died on the same day, he wished for her to find the love she so desperately wanted. Also given a second chance at life, he throws his lot in with Yi Joo, determined to help her seek her revenge and make her fall in love with him along the way. Of course, it's not smooth sailing. Their enemies, namely Yi Joo's adopted mother and Do Guk's brother, aren't entirely stupid and they manage to win a few hands, but in the end, good prevails and evil falls. Being a soap opera, naturally you have to throw common sense out the window and just go along with the absurdity. There are plenty of twists and turns, most fairly obvious, but with one or two that actually did surprise me. The ending was a tad prosaic. Everything gets wrapped with a neat little bow and it's almost too perfect. Still given everything our leads went through, I suppose they deserve a non-dramatic ending. The pacing was decent all things considered. It did get a tad laggy about midway, mostly with repetitive scenes, particularly between our leads as they reassured each other that they were in this together and they would succeed. Yes, we got that the first five times you said it. But otherwise, things progressed pretty steadily.

Ah, the over the top characters, dramatically plotting, hunting down secrets and desperately trying to conceal secrets, righting the past and attempting to destroy the past. They're all larger than life and almost to a man, or woman, polarizing.
- Yi Joo is the perfect woman. Despite her family's abuse, she continued to go through life with a smile and refused to let their hatred tarnish her. But once she set her heart on avenging herself on them, she was ruthless, meticulously tearing them apart. The change in her from the first episode to the next is stark. Gone is the naive, trampled young woman and in her place is someone who knows her worth and is willing to go to bat for herself. While the need for that change is clear, it's still abrupt. And while not apparent in that first episode, it's quickly shown that she is a very intelligent woman, though how she has some of the knowledge she possesses is unclear. Her relationship with Do Guk, while slow moving, is overall well done as she grows to trust him and then to love him. Despite the drama surrounding them, their relationship is relatively drama free, save for when she discovers that he was also brought back. Even so, they maintain communication and soon overcome that obstacle. Yi Joo's character development, despite having a few moments where it stalls, is also well done. While Do Guk certainly serves as her biggest support, she is not without agency and is pivotal in changing her own life around.
- Do Guk is the perfect man to Yi Joo's perfect woman. Caring and loyal with a strong moral compass, he comes alongside Yi Joo to help her accomplish her mission in taking revenge on her family. Obviously taken by Yi Joo from their first meeting, it's not revealed until much later just how deep those feelings go. While the reasons Yi Joo fell in love with Do Guk are more obvious, Do Guk's reasons are more shrouded. His feelings originated from how her painting made him feel and grew from there. He serves as a safe space for her and she for him. His character development is much more subtle and yet it's still present as he comes to find his own purpose and gain the strength and courage to pursue it.
- Jung Hye is Yi Joo's deliciously malicious adopted mother. Rotten to the core with a cruel streak a mile wide, she made Yi Joo's life a living hell, until she comes back and Jung Hye finds that she's met her match. A woman willing to do absolutely anything to get ahead, she is a master manipulator. Lying comes as easily to her as breathing even when it comes to her own daughter. She's consistent in her vile ways until the bitter end when she's left with the knowledge that she has been utterly forsaken.
-Yoo Ra is the worshipped daughter of Jung Hye who can do no wrong. She looks down on her older sister because she's adopted, flirts with her sister's husband, and is a pampered princess. While not generally taking an active role in her mother's schemes, she attempts to do her own damage to Yi Joo and discredit her, though she's rather inept and her own reputation is damaged instead. Piece by piece she is brought down as she discovers she's not even her father's daughter, her mother has been lying to her, and she's pregnant with the wrong man's baby. I was concerned for a bit that they were going to go for a redemption arc with her, but was very glad they didn't as that just wouldn't be as satisfying.
- Jung Wook is Do Guk's conniving older brother. The presumed heir to the family's company, his moral compass points in the exact opposite direction as his brother's. Willing to cut corners, lie and cheat his way to success, there's very little he won't do to get ahead. Holding the event that left him with an injured leg over his brother's head, he actively seeks to leave Do Guk out in the cold, making home an uncomfortable place for him and reminding him of his supposed superiority. While Jung Wook never shows any remorse for what he does to his brother and Yi Joo, he is eventually brought down a few pegs when his father reveals that all the resentment he'd built up and held onto, blaming his father for abandoning his mother, was all for naught as it was in fact, his mother who abandoned them.
-Honorable mentions go to Do Guk's mother and grandmother who were both badass women in their own ways. I loved them both and how willing they were to accept Yi Joo as a member of their family. And, of course, can't forget Yi Joo's own mother who overcame so much to be reunited with her daughter. The one character I did feel a bit bad for and whose ending wasn't wholly deserved was Se Hyeok. There's certainly an element of he made his bed and now he has to lie in it, but he at least seemed to have actual remorse for his actions and was trying to turn over a new leaf. It's a pity that he couldn't escape Yoo Ra.

This series had a great cast that really embraced the drama. Jung Yoo Min was lovely as Yi Joo. She did a great job of combining Yi Joo's softness with an iron will. Sung Hoon was effortlessly charming as Do Guk with an added depth that gave the character dimension. Together their chemistry was a little more subtle, but also very much present. They didn't need excessive amounts of PDA to show that they loved each other. Lee Min Young did her job very well as I absolutely despised Jung Hye. Kang Shin Hyo as Jung Wook, however, was not as compelling. I certainly didn't like his character, but my feelings were much less strong when compared to how Jung Hye made me feel.

The production was quite good. I liked the cinematography. Possibly because painting and art work played a part in the story, there seemed to be a higher level of attention paid to color in the costumes, set, and design in general. It was very pleasing to look at. The women's costumes in particular were gorgeous. It was clear that a lot of time and effort was put into those. The men's, however, was lacking a bit and it would have been nice to see them given the same attention to detail.

Perfect Marriage Revenge is not a drama to take seriously or try to find sense in. It is a soap opera so anything goes, no matter how absurd. But there is humor to be found in the absurdity, fun in the drama, and satisfaction in the knowledge that good will triumph over evil.

Read More