This review may contain spoilers
New Siwaj, slow down.
MY ROMANCE SCAMMER
In any normal context, while consuming any normal media that is an adaptation, I’d make the effort of at least consulting the bare minimum facts of the original source material, before considering giving my review. With Thai BLs, this does not change. What, just because the quality of these works is subpar at best, I will give them no such respect? You must have me confused. As much as I can, I like to do my due diligence in being interested in the source material. Unless the edits made in the adaptation are well needed for this to work on screen, or to be any good. So, imagine my surprise when a well deconstructed couple like U and North get nothing but crumbs of attention, and our main couple, Tim and Pai, get caricatures of their struggles instead of the fleshed out, introspective moments of pure dilemma given in the novel.
My Romance Scammer was set off to be a well, as it says in the title a ROMANCE comedy. That’s what the first pilot promised. And that was my first mistake: never trust the first pilots. Bonus mistake, never trust a New Siwaj promise. For, in the middle of the filming, starring actor Junior comes out of the woodwork to let us now that this is going to be a drama. As in, this show will dive deep into the characters, which should have also been a red flag: New Siwaj, as we known, can’t do character-driven stories even if he had a step-by-step guide for it. It happened with Faifah in Perfect 10 Liners, and it happened here with U and North. Which, I could concede on as we had 12 episodes, and a whole mess to resolve, some comedy relief was needed.
Still, here are my points: U and North weren’t a comedy relief. They were a weird mix of goofy, voice of reason, background noise. Their characters too dilute to have a true purpose on the show. Sure, a character can contain multitudes, but North’s and U’s were never fully defined, because there was no actual interest in diving into their background. North’s ex who broke his heart, U’s dilemma of resorting to do what his mother does, although he knows how everyone suffers from it at the end. The redeeming, the rekindling. It was too rushed. I’d say too out of character if we knew what kind of characters they are besides: goofy, airhead, naïve rich boy (literally all of Poon’s characters under Siwaj), and sincere, kind, genuine poor boy. That’s it.
Not like I expected any grey areas or complexity, but I wanted some cohesive narrative that could show me their shadows.
Because shadows we get with Tim and Pai, so that’s not my issue. My issue is that someone must have lost some pages of the script, because we were told that Tim’s parents abandoned him; yet he is the one asking for forgiveness. For resorting to scamming after being practically destitute, unable to finish his career and find a job to sustain himself, and also, being forced to help his parents pay THEIR debt. So, that was not only bewildering, it was bad all around. Nobody noticed? After the many times of reading the script? During filming? Editing? Or was this scene filmed first and the backstory later?
If that’s the case, that shows another problem I have with New Siwaj: he thinks he can handle all of that. Sadly, he can’t. You can’t possibly pretend to release 5 projects in the same year, and have them all be a hit. Even less any good. You can’t possibly focus on 5 projects at once, one of them being the mammoth called Fourever You with 5 couples, and have them all score any higher than a 5/10. The only saving grace for Siwaj is the acting. Because boy, were they acting. Junior has the range (graduated from the Nadao School) and here we revert back to his debut in Midnight Museum, where we saw a yearning, grieving boy. Here we have Tim, a smart, calculating yet sweet man, who in face of adversity strategizes, manipulates with surgeon-like precision. Yet, he is too soft-hearted to commit.
Now that’s a character description. We can do something with that. Junior did. And Mark, because he is also incredibly talented, and I can’t wait to see more of his acting range in 21 Twenty-One; bounces off Junior’s acting like a dream. I can’t sing enough praises about Mark’s acting in the wedding crash scene. I felt that in my gut. So, as I said, New Siwaj works with great talent yet he gives them absolutely nothing to work with. Feeds champions a strict diet of ice soup and boiled chicken with plain rice.
Because yes, U and North were lacklustre, but Ohm and Poon’s chemistry was pure gold. They felt comfortable, there was that invisible magnetic pull of attraction, undeniable and almost tangible between them. They just fit together, and it was absolutely beautiful to see Ohm on his goofier side. But, if I may have my last complain: where is the bed scene, New Siwaj?
So, to conclude: great premise, awfully executed yet brilliantly acted.
In any normal context, while consuming any normal media that is an adaptation, I’d make the effort of at least consulting the bare minimum facts of the original source material, before considering giving my review. With Thai BLs, this does not change. What, just because the quality of these works is subpar at best, I will give them no such respect? You must have me confused. As much as I can, I like to do my due diligence in being interested in the source material. Unless the edits made in the adaptation are well needed for this to work on screen, or to be any good. So, imagine my surprise when a well deconstructed couple like U and North get nothing but crumbs of attention, and our main couple, Tim and Pai, get caricatures of their struggles instead of the fleshed out, introspective moments of pure dilemma given in the novel.
My Romance Scammer was set off to be a well, as it says in the title a ROMANCE comedy. That’s what the first pilot promised. And that was my first mistake: never trust the first pilots. Bonus mistake, never trust a New Siwaj promise. For, in the middle of the filming, starring actor Junior comes out of the woodwork to let us now that this is going to be a drama. As in, this show will dive deep into the characters, which should have also been a red flag: New Siwaj, as we known, can’t do character-driven stories even if he had a step-by-step guide for it. It happened with Faifah in Perfect 10 Liners, and it happened here with U and North. Which, I could concede on as we had 12 episodes, and a whole mess to resolve, some comedy relief was needed.
Still, here are my points: U and North weren’t a comedy relief. They were a weird mix of goofy, voice of reason, background noise. Their characters too dilute to have a true purpose on the show. Sure, a character can contain multitudes, but North’s and U’s were never fully defined, because there was no actual interest in diving into their background. North’s ex who broke his heart, U’s dilemma of resorting to do what his mother does, although he knows how everyone suffers from it at the end. The redeeming, the rekindling. It was too rushed. I’d say too out of character if we knew what kind of characters they are besides: goofy, airhead, naïve rich boy (literally all of Poon’s characters under Siwaj), and sincere, kind, genuine poor boy. That’s it.
Not like I expected any grey areas or complexity, but I wanted some cohesive narrative that could show me their shadows.
Because shadows we get with Tim and Pai, so that’s not my issue. My issue is that someone must have lost some pages of the script, because we were told that Tim’s parents abandoned him; yet he is the one asking for forgiveness. For resorting to scamming after being practically destitute, unable to finish his career and find a job to sustain himself, and also, being forced to help his parents pay THEIR debt. So, that was not only bewildering, it was bad all around. Nobody noticed? After the many times of reading the script? During filming? Editing? Or was this scene filmed first and the backstory later?
If that’s the case, that shows another problem I have with New Siwaj: he thinks he can handle all of that. Sadly, he can’t. You can’t possibly pretend to release 5 projects in the same year, and have them all be a hit. Even less any good. You can’t possibly focus on 5 projects at once, one of them being the mammoth called Fourever You with 5 couples, and have them all score any higher than a 5/10. The only saving grace for Siwaj is the acting. Because boy, were they acting. Junior has the range (graduated from the Nadao School) and here we revert back to his debut in Midnight Museum, where we saw a yearning, grieving boy. Here we have Tim, a smart, calculating yet sweet man, who in face of adversity strategizes, manipulates with surgeon-like precision. Yet, he is too soft-hearted to commit.
Now that’s a character description. We can do something with that. Junior did. And Mark, because he is also incredibly talented, and I can’t wait to see more of his acting range in 21 Twenty-One; bounces off Junior’s acting like a dream. I can’t sing enough praises about Mark’s acting in the wedding crash scene. I felt that in my gut. So, as I said, New Siwaj works with great talent yet he gives them absolutely nothing to work with. Feeds champions a strict diet of ice soup and boiled chicken with plain rice.
Because yes, U and North were lacklustre, but Ohm and Poon’s chemistry was pure gold. They felt comfortable, there was that invisible magnetic pull of attraction, undeniable and almost tangible between them. They just fit together, and it was absolutely beautiful to see Ohm on his goofier side. But, if I may have my last complain: where is the bed scene, New Siwaj?
So, to conclude: great premise, awfully executed yet brilliantly acted.
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