strawgal

Yes, I think it could have gone to 12eps and filled it nicely.

It only works so far. The big money is looking for shows that portray real relationships, that the story is the hook not someone sexuality or a romance, these appeal to a wider audience and make more money.
I think the genre is on its way to split, the cheap straight to Youtube, vertical drama, that are mainly aimed a teens, and the more complicated plots like Mandate, or Shine that lots of viewers will pay for, and they can sell at a premium to streamers.
We have just finished An Interview With a Vampire, the most toxic gay love/hate story, but its also a story about what it means to be a vampire, and how you survive a changing world, made with a huge budget and seasoned actors. My husband who likes action drama watched it because the toxic story was great tv, and the acting amazing.

I managed to finish it although I had completely lost interest.
What started off as amusing just ended up as a series of scenes which no real emotional heart. It just wasn't funny enough for even comedy drama, although at the start it had some very good one liners. Some of the characters were just there to fill gaps. I know we need supporting characters that hopefully move the story along but some were just literally filling space, not adding depth which could make a fantastical plot real.
I watch of things that are probably critically a load of rubbish, but there two things that draw me in, you imagine what characters are feeling or no matter how flawed or obnoxious they are, they are interesting, it did neither for me.

I often think that because now writing is seen as a career and they go from colleges straight in to something creative, there is now a huge gap between how most people really live and what writers have experienced.
They say write what you know, well they now have to make that gap in life experience with research and that is extra time and cost. Its easier to turn out generic ideas, and often its seems they have been to the same seminar and picked up the same ideas.

I live in an area that is very mixed, at one side there are the great educational institutions, and all the tech money it attracts. Then you have rural areas which tend to have more social and drug problems that you are aware of because it's cheaper to live and easier to hide.
The only difference perhaps between the two is the people with more money and more educational gloss are a lot better at working the system and social expectation to cover up their mistakes or crimes.

I live is the UK so I find themes in C&K in some aspects relatable, social class and the power that money give you. The main difference is perhaps in general we do not like being told what to do and a how to live, so being non conformist and bloody minded is a core trait. Hence we love swear words and use them frequently.

Lots of fathers do care very much about their children, the fathers I meet are often very involved in child care and even if they are not involved in daily care they are often do things with them at the weekend Where live its very much normal for dads to take the children to the supermarket, play sport or just to take toddler out in the push chair.

My own father would make me toys and take me all over, he taughtme to knit and to sew Just because you have seen bad male parenting, it doesn't mean that all men are like that. This is my experience.

I have also seen mothers who see their children as extensions of their life style but fortunately most are just wanting the best for their children. I worked in a school for a while, I have looked after sick children so I have met all sorts of parents, as well as all ages of children.
I have also seen the results of abuse and neglect first hand, so I am aware of what parents and people who are supposed to care for them are capable of.

The ML having a child IMO is just a plot device, it's just a marker to show he is a good person, someone who is thoughtful. The fact that he has a failed relationship is about the only thing we know about him, but when they have the fight he obviously for the plot knows how to fight well. So has he got a hidden past?
An alternative is he was a bad boy, got mixed up with the wrong crowd and wrong women and went to the country to build another life, redeem himself by looking after his child and become another person, Another trope.

That is the problem is script has so many holes, some of it deliberate so they can keep twisting the plot to set up the next set piece.
The only character that is completely consistent is the villain and that
has become a complete caricature, who basically has two expressions mean and extra mean.

I think any man who has children and is involved in their care ends up protective of their child/s welfare , if he can run a business that growing plants, he knows that living things have to be fed, watered and protected to survive.
The reason why this is completely unbelievable is that the child who has been already abandoned by one parent seems to accept and the father seem to expect that he can be left with anyone with no emotional issues. He has already wandered off once and his dad panicked. The child is just a plot device and it shows.

The idea that he sees her as 'his women', someone he doesn't really know, if we are to take it seriously, is delusional. She has not been truthful about who she is or what she is, and her mother is another minus, because would you really want your child to be in contact with someone like that in any way?

Things like a car chase in a 4x4, where you know the landscape and you do not take it off road but instead have a standing fight where you are out numbered is standard drama nonsense, The 'gun fight' and the idea you can just wrap someone hand around a gun to cover up who used it is just not now technically possible, but that's another drama trope.

It started out as a good premise but it has descended in to jigsaw of ideas with
no real coherence.

Well acted but it ends up with too many plot twists and connection’s and a very rushed ending, like thy ran out budget or ideas and the end was pure cheese and not the good stuff.

I can not make head nor tail of it, there seems to be two versions of the story, one that made some sort of sense and the version that I am watching that is nothing like the synopsis of the plot.
I think I will give up, its not selling it to me,

An unlikely premise, straight out of some trope ridden C drama, but it has that feel of reality. The detail put in the sets, the setting and costume all beautifully shot so everything looks it best but not filtered, and the lack of white faced make up so you can see emotion with subtlety how ever fleeting that is. With a great OST as a bonus.
What ever you think of the plot, I hope they thought about a less trope ending, its really well done.

This has lost me a bit. Why as a single parent who you risk injury and leave your child to help someone you do not really know, several times. A child is not just a bag of shopping you can dump with someone when it's inconvenient, even if the someone is an responsible adult. Being a parent myself you kids are your main priority and if as a father they were not his, he is not worth having.

Not really a fan of Chinese costume drama, usually bad wigs and even worse terrible dubbing, but I give this a 9.5.
Loved the FL lead, not the usual brainless idiot, lots of flawed believable characters whose motivations made sense in a world where the dog that is born first gets the biggest bone and then spends all its energy guarding it, with the rest of the litter trying to grab it. And the big question what does the love that lasts really look like, and it's not all about trying to make someone love you.
The production values are great, slight whinge, they could get better horses and get actors to sit a horse properly,

This for me was like a cake that had all good ingredients but just fell flat.
Excellent production values, great set dressing and when the actors had a proper script to work with they pulled it off.
It just wasn't unsettling enough for a supernatural story and at lot of the script was just um's ah's and direction just look longing or perplexed, topped off with a weak smile.
The episode 8 -9 gave me hope, but it trailed out with and unbelievable whimper.
Thai mainstream horror and inventive drama is so good, its just seems a missed opportunity for the sake of a formula.

My goodness this is bland. Two very talented actors stuck with a script full of tropes looks like it has been is written on a bathroom break, or the trope lottery is at work. Put your hand in and pull one out,.
They can both do comedy, this can not decide if it's serious or not. If its serious it has to do better. If its a sit com, it has to do much better.
The Boy Next Door, you can watch on YouTube, shows how a simple plot can be very funny, and the ML is in it.

I think this is may favourite drama in any genre of the whole year so far, the sort where I am desperate for the next episode. No fillers, great script, just pure plot and some excellent acting.
Perhaps its review score is indicative of what the audience was expecting and not a political drama with love story that though integral to the plot is only part of the plot.
I think this is something that Netflix should pick up because where ever you live the deals with in deals go on everywhere.
The K political drama First Lady being screened ATM is so full of filler, this proves that less is often more.

I think the wake up scene was so ham it could feed a whole family.

The best actors/comedians who use camp humour are often very good actors, they know how to deliver a line because camp humour is very sharp and often uses sarcasm, the person delivering the line is often also a poking fun at themselves as well commentating on the situation.They need to be able to adjust the tone, so when there is a serious line it's weighted properly. It was used in serious theatre because gay actors could express their non conformist personalty on and off stage. Roland Harwoods The Dresser the film and and play perhaps gives an insight how the stage attracted non conformists.
If you want an example of a classically trained actor/ comedian playing camp look at Maggie Smith and Kenneth Williams on Youtube. In Downton Abbey Maggie Smith is often delivering camp humour lines, its just not as obvious, in comes across as snobby English. Her one liners are typical Kenneth Williams asides.
I would recommend watching two gay very experienced actors playing camp to the max in Vicious, its on Netflix and some of the out takes are on Youtube.

I do not think its the actors fault, it's the script that has become mess and to cover the cracks so the character has become a caricature.
To be fair it would have to be a very good writer or someone to has a lot of experience to sustain the writing in that for the amount of episodes with a complicated plot, and some parts are just filler.IMO

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/example/english/slight-build
Usually a man who is not only thin but his physical frame appears not as strong, sometimes called light boned. My husband has smaller wrists than me although he is taller than me.

I think the use of feminine for men is often slight build. and often openly emotional and expressive.

Not really impressed any more. I loved the camp humour at the start, and it made sense because if you have ever been on opioids or had a dream which seems real but you know its a dream, you never take anything seriously, you have some detachment. You wake up and think that was scary or fun, and that's about it.
I now can not decide if it wants to be camp or serious, and Nut has such range he can do both but the script makes the character he is playing superficial and at times a bit unfeeling, he is living this life but not really treating people and choices seriously, which make me think are we supposed to feel anything for the characters.
Having watched Dream within a Dream, the humour and wanting to changed the reality you at in a present was more consistent in its execution of character development.

I didn't foresee that it would become gut wrenchingly better.
Shout out for the actress that play Pin, whether you agree or not with her actions she manages to make her not a caricature in eps 9 and 10. The deal for the women at that time was a good one, but she can not see the reality, she is in love with the idea of the perfect marriage and what seems like the perfect man.

A solid 8. Got a bit boring towards the end, too much boardroom filler, but it's a nice easy comfort watch.
I liked the fact that the FL actually showed expression in her face, ML really has a limited range, the only time I only believed in the relationship was when they had an all out verbal fight.