This review may contain spoilers
A lot going on but interesting and worthwhile
Overall this series is pretty good, but does have a lot going on plot-wise that made it a little muddled in the middle. It did bring it home at the end and I was like, "okay, cool!"
I was interested in this series because of the two main leads; I think their chemistry as actors is really good from doing Cutie Pie and Naughty Babe. This series is very different in genre and style from those two works so that's a refreshing change, I think. However, I would say that there was a LOT going on for ten episodes—to the point where I was kind of hesitant with where it went. Once they delved into the gangster storyline with Tai and said that Tai's Original Universe Counterpart killed Kram's mother, I was like 'okay, you had me but now you're losing me.'
I really think that the story would have been stronger if they stuck with, and dug deeper into, the conspiracy plot and Phupha's murder instead of detouring into the Big Slum gang stuff. They do kind of set up the gangster stuff in the beginning, BUT over the course of the episodes it becomes a lot to go through when the main plot of Phupha's murder is already interesting enough to get us into the story. That being said, it could have gone either way. Mostly, my critique here is about the focus of the narrative. There was a lot of plot-points that are run through quite quickly and any one of them could have been developed more and stretched out to fill the story for 10 compelling episodes.
Now the supernatural/sci-fi element of going to an alternate universe was super interesting to me. But it didn't go where I thought, and I was a little disappointed. Not that everything has to meet my expectations, but based on everything that I watched, I really do think this aspect of the narrative would have been stronger if they used it to more thoroughly explore the conspiracy plot and reveal more about the characters than what we're led to believe from the beginning. Putting a character in a situation where everyone they know is now de-familiarized can be a great narrative tool to explore how the perceptions of what we think we know about various characters and events can be flawed.
Which leads to me to the Tai thing. I really found it hard to believe that Kram was so quick to think that 1) Tai was different and 2) not be scared of him anymore. Yes, in this universe Tai does not have a scar on his face, so that's a big difference. But, I felt like there should have been resistance and confusion on Kram's part to believing that this was a totally different person. Moreover, Kram believes that Original Universe Tai killed his mother, and I had to think this would definitely color Kram's perception of Tai in that respect. It gets revealed at the end that Original Universe Tai didn't actually pull the trigger, and Kram tells him that he started to think he didn't once he got to know the other Tai, which sort of comes unexpectedly. I wish that was a more prominent point that developed sooner so we weren't thinking the entire time that Tai killed Kram's mother in the original universe.
Then it gets into another arc where Kram gets sick. I kind of thought this mysterious illness had something to do with the fact that he's from another world, but no? That also felt like an odd detour plot-wise. And by this point, the series actually resolved the main plot of Phupha's would-be murder. So this kind of gets thrown in there to bring more tension to Tai and Kram's relationship and the fact that Kram has, up until the last episode, basically abandoned his original universe. What pleasantly brought it back for me was the final two episodes where Kram returns to his world and then Original Universe Tai ends up having to sacrifice himself to save him from this illness. It makes an interesting arc and parallel here seeing both Tais save Kram. So while this Tai is still a Bad Guy, he does end up getting a kind of redemption here, which leads Kram back to his better counterpart. In that way, I think the series did hit on what I was really looking for in an exploration of different sides of the same character.
I mean, all of this is just to say that I really felt like there were some missed opportunities to dig into what the story had already set up. By the end, I do feel like there was a strong point about these alternate connections between Tai and Kram, which did wrap up in a thoughtful and interesting way, but I still feel like that could have been made stronger with more development between them from the beginning instead of as much emphasis on Kram and Phupha. There was just a lot of other plot stuff going on, so I do end up thinking about all the ways the narrative could have been strengthened to make that arc more poignant and satisfying.
Overall entertaining and pretty good. Just fell a bit short, but that's okay and not a dealbreaker honestly.
ALSO. I'll just mention Pai (is that right?) goes through a whole dumpster fire of injuries in this series. I mean, he was shot, stabbed (multiple times???), tortured, had his leg impaled on an animal trap???? and then somehow managed to have sex with that other guy??? like, with a leg injury????? My dude needs stitches and a tetanus shot. That's all I was thinking.
I was interested in this series because of the two main leads; I think their chemistry as actors is really good from doing Cutie Pie and Naughty Babe. This series is very different in genre and style from those two works so that's a refreshing change, I think. However, I would say that there was a LOT going on for ten episodes—to the point where I was kind of hesitant with where it went. Once they delved into the gangster storyline with Tai and said that Tai's Original Universe Counterpart killed Kram's mother, I was like 'okay, you had me but now you're losing me.'
I really think that the story would have been stronger if they stuck with, and dug deeper into, the conspiracy plot and Phupha's murder instead of detouring into the Big Slum gang stuff. They do kind of set up the gangster stuff in the beginning, BUT over the course of the episodes it becomes a lot to go through when the main plot of Phupha's murder is already interesting enough to get us into the story. That being said, it could have gone either way. Mostly, my critique here is about the focus of the narrative. There was a lot of plot-points that are run through quite quickly and any one of them could have been developed more and stretched out to fill the story for 10 compelling episodes.
Now the supernatural/sci-fi element of going to an alternate universe was super interesting to me. But it didn't go where I thought, and I was a little disappointed. Not that everything has to meet my expectations, but based on everything that I watched, I really do think this aspect of the narrative would have been stronger if they used it to more thoroughly explore the conspiracy plot and reveal more about the characters than what we're led to believe from the beginning. Putting a character in a situation where everyone they know is now de-familiarized can be a great narrative tool to explore how the perceptions of what we think we know about various characters and events can be flawed.
Which leads to me to the Tai thing. I really found it hard to believe that Kram was so quick to think that 1) Tai was different and 2) not be scared of him anymore. Yes, in this universe Tai does not have a scar on his face, so that's a big difference. But, I felt like there should have been resistance and confusion on Kram's part to believing that this was a totally different person. Moreover, Kram believes that Original Universe Tai killed his mother, and I had to think this would definitely color Kram's perception of Tai in that respect. It gets revealed at the end that Original Universe Tai didn't actually pull the trigger, and Kram tells him that he started to think he didn't once he got to know the other Tai, which sort of comes unexpectedly. I wish that was a more prominent point that developed sooner so we weren't thinking the entire time that Tai killed Kram's mother in the original universe.
Then it gets into another arc where Kram gets sick. I kind of thought this mysterious illness had something to do with the fact that he's from another world, but no? That also felt like an odd detour plot-wise. And by this point, the series actually resolved the main plot of Phupha's would-be murder. So this kind of gets thrown in there to bring more tension to Tai and Kram's relationship and the fact that Kram has, up until the last episode, basically abandoned his original universe. What pleasantly brought it back for me was the final two episodes where Kram returns to his world and then Original Universe Tai ends up having to sacrifice himself to save him from this illness. It makes an interesting arc and parallel here seeing both Tais save Kram. So while this Tai is still a Bad Guy, he does end up getting a kind of redemption here, which leads Kram back to his better counterpart. In that way, I think the series did hit on what I was really looking for in an exploration of different sides of the same character.
I mean, all of this is just to say that I really felt like there were some missed opportunities to dig into what the story had already set up. By the end, I do feel like there was a strong point about these alternate connections between Tai and Kram, which did wrap up in a thoughtful and interesting way, but I still feel like that could have been made stronger with more development between them from the beginning instead of as much emphasis on Kram and Phupha. There was just a lot of other plot stuff going on, so I do end up thinking about all the ways the narrative could have been strengthened to make that arc more poignant and satisfying.
Overall entertaining and pretty good. Just fell a bit short, but that's okay and not a dealbreaker honestly.
ALSO. I'll just mention Pai (is that right?) goes through a whole dumpster fire of injuries in this series. I mean, he was shot, stabbed (multiple times???), tortured, had his leg impaled on an animal trap???? and then somehow managed to have sex with that other guy??? like, with a leg injury????? My dude needs stitches and a tetanus shot. That's all I was thinking.
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