strawgal

I liken to deciding which sofa to buy. Is it comfy, will it fit the space, instead I need that sofa, how much do I have to move to make space, because once it gets a bit a bit worn if you do not love it you want to replace it.
Who ever has written this seems to think women have to earn love by being good and worthy of love, being beautiful is just not enough. While men can be average, have little personalty and we are supposed to be grateful that they try. Does either love interest have a personality outside of work.
No wonder the birth rate is falling.
The trope of ex that the man has to be polite to a blurs boundaries, who in reality would put up with that. I would have his head on a stick.

A proper script with well fleshed out characters, I hadn't expected how funny and well observed it would be.
Up has the face of a shape shifter, that changes depending on the role, with every emotion written across it.Poom has nailed the knowing charm, testing but not over pushy.
For once there appears to be a female character who is not deluded or hysterical.

I am enjoying this but the ML character is a bit of whiny petulant self absorbed man baby, who could not decide if he wanted butter on his toast and then once decided would blame someone else for his poor choice. As soon as he thinks the FL has made a mistake or does something he doesn't like he has a face like a slapped a!se. She could do better.
I actually think FL the should choose herself, because the men only like her because she appears to the intelligent helpful handmaiden, and she will end up in the same hole she was with her ex.
When men to get to that age they even more self centred, neither is a real catch.

The FL as written is still too passive, if a man can not decide, or is not clear I think you draw a line, because when things get bad you someone that will choose you, not weigh up the situation and think twice before acting. I think she is allowed to have a bit of fun before making her mind up.

I think since Heated Rivalry GMMTV have realised there is a bigger market outside what they normally cater for, and those fans are not normally interested in fan service type interviews and questions.

Their are some better Thai interviewers but they are harder to find, and the subject is almost treated just as entertainment not a 'serious' drama.
The type of interviews Thai tv do, if it was on US, EU tv I think there would be a huge backlash, I can not see someone like Leo Woodhall who seems to be everyone's love interest in form or another ATM being interviewed in that way.

I liked this more than I thought I would, I just think considering the theme of scamming which a large problem and causes a lot of heart break the script could have been a bit stronger.
It seemed to propagate the idea that you have to be a bit naive/ or lacking in some way to get scammed.
The actors did their job well it's not their fault it was written as a not very dark rom com and managed to give it more subtilty than was in the script.

If you looked a the plot synopsis you would think where is the plot, and what plot there is we have seen it before.
What it has got is in the confines of the style which is never going to be hard on realism, is character and world building, where no one character is so extreme in their personality or behaviour that they are not like anyone you have met, or believe you could have met. It has characters with flaws, but they are understandable, so you can empathise with them. Some are annoying ,but never full deluded sociopaths.

What I particularly like was the use of the camera and direction, so you not just watching static shots as in a play. The pop corn making scene really shows skills that are not usually used, with a tracked camera.
Yes it does have a few tropes, but most drama now seems to use them as short cuts. What is perhaps strange it's one of the few depictions of a healthy relationship in any sort of drama where conflicts are resolved and no one resorts to the storming off in a huff indefinitely just to fulfil the doom laden ep11 trope, or ep 9 if it;s a shorter drama. A world where you be cross with someone, often, and still they make you world better.

They say misery loves company and certainly the writers decided to give most of the characters long term problems that are not even going to be solved quickly.
Its just lazy writers, love will solve every problem. The characters just make me feel tired.

It's just a bit meh. Lacking in pace and looks like they have padded the script to fill the eps.
There is nothing wrong with it really, it just could do with a trim as it wanders.
I seems to be unable to decide what it's main theme is, and tries both to be a serious drama about memory,trauma and a fluffy romance and does neither that well.

FYI
A serious interview in English about their work with Zack Sang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlMUz_lyMlA

If you look at the play list there is also one with Jeff Satur and LYKN

Sorry I do not understand the reference.
I think most production companies are mainly concerned about making money for their shareholders, like any other business. Netflix is very good at tracking what sells and ditching what it's not making enough profit.
Most of the bigger studios are suffering because costs are going up for production and are relying on old IP, like Stars Wars and to draw an audience.
Mergers are happening because of the debt burden, and the use of AI is going to change the industry. To misquote All About Eve,' It's going to be a bumpy ride."

Your right, I was uneasy about making this subject a rom com because it destroys peoples lives.
Perhaps the only plus about Tim is in the past it was a job, acting the part and not feeling anything, if someone dumped him he just lost an income stream.
This time he is dumped, he feels loss and also he is confronted with what he had done. If he really loves Pai and its the first time he has been in love just seeing Pai heartbroken would affect him. The confrontation with his parents when he thought he was helping them, just a punch to the gut.

Watched with my husband, as it was a action, and he enjoyed it. The fight sequence are so well directed they are cinema standard, that you are in the action and feel every punch. which depending on your taste can be a good or a bad thing. It not high art, yes the plot has holes, but it doe what it says on the tin. Action drama.
The main point of difference from the normal the action genre is you really care about the main leads, even if you have not seen the first series, you are attracted to their bond.
If I have a negative a bit like US drama they have to make some bits too sweet and sickly.

Rain is so effective as the villain, like an attack dog, that enjoys aggression. The addition of other seasoned K drama actors playing against type and the open ending means their could be Season 3.

There is a lot of doom and gloom about Netflix, but they give actors a chance to make money and get a mass audience, in the Top 10 in the UK, so it's reaching people who would not usually watch k drama.

I just found this tedious. Its unbeautifully filmed and the production values are great. I think my biggest problem although the FL did a good job,I just found the character irritating. I used to work with very sick teens, with the hyper vigilante parent type, and the management of long term healthconditions and they can be a bit self centred but this character takes it to another level. They say misery loves company.
The ML. TBH I watched it because I had seen old clips of him on Youtube and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. His acting OK, what he had to do but wardrobe and hair, particularly the hair reminded me of some 90's boy band. The messed with head band like Ben Stiller in Tropic Thunder, I just wanted to laugh.
The romance part, was it a romance, because it was almost like she targetted someone she could control, love bombed and only thought about herself, and left him even more effed up. Her actions caused him more harm, in her effort to be seen, and what ever 'charm' she had can not cancel that out.
Really well made but that story just terrible, I think was trying to be a serious drama but had to put in so many tropes to justify the plot, and the end was the only way out. 7.5

The OST has some pleasant songs but the over use of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons as incidental music shows perhaps the underlying lack of attention to anything that did not sell the project.
Love The Four Seasons, but it has been done to death by clips in drama, but it has no copyright so its a lazy fix.

No, everyone has a choice. I am just pointing out the advantages of seeing of what the directer intended the finished project to look like.
Even major international movies have directors cut's which some people think is better than the commercially released and promoted film. A lot of the decisions on editing are made for convenience and promotion,
YouTube is a simple way for the companies to generate income, but sometimes the way they cut the episodes doesn't do the drama any favours, especially if the eps do not end up in sequence

Sometimes the uncut you go huh? The direction in this is so good that the pacing will make a difference. If you watch most things as a whole it gives a better flow, by the time you have watched the ads and intro on Youtube , yes you still have the story intact but you lose most of the context the director has tried to build up. What I do is wait until something has aired say three or four dramas I am interested in and pay for a month only. You can also find discount codes for various streamers so its even cheaper.

The more I watch this the more I appreciate the direction, the complexity of of how a take works an the use of moving camera so you are in a scene not just watching it. which takes time care and planning.
At the start it seems a simple story, and I can understand why people are perhaps bored, but a bit Qin 's character it has layers like and onion, and each episode strips one off, and it becomes more thoughtful.

This has become so ridiculous it's almost funny. There is one scene where there 'classical' music which is so trite you wonder who was the music editor, because they seem to nothing how back ground music can influence a scene.
Then there are the costumes, which I assume are sponsored, some nice suits a bit over used, and the females trotting around in basically the same set of cloths looking befuddled.
What is really maddening is a the actors have done a really good job with what they had, even though the plot is like bad fan fiction, and holey.
I think the direction is clunky and looks cheap, in that they used as few shots and as little imagination as possible.

'they must be hard to handle' Like any tribe there is a culture and once you understand it reactions tend to be predictable. I have horses so shared interests are often a common ground.
The biggest shocker is perhaps you have to get used to the fact that through connections they have resources normal people can not access, they think everyone has the same life as them, but with less money.

There is an excellent interview about Clint Eastwoods style of direction and how experienced actors think about there craft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWUdlf_vEJ0
The thing about Eastwood is he was in pulp TV westerns at the start and formula style westerns films, so I think it is what an actor tries to learn while working. Some will know its a short career, just make money and the smart ones invest it.
I love JA, and when I started watching C and K drama the ideas about class, wealth and family one up man ship with in a family were very relatable. In some respects more than US drama. I used to work and know people country estates, and they look often like the gardener because everyone know who they are, the went to the same boarding schools and they have nothing to prove. The only thing they spend real money on are horses, land ,shot guns and the very old Land Rover or horse transport.They buy new once and never throw anything away, it gets handed down to staff.
JA it think is very transplantable to C drama, in some respect Perfect Match was Pride and Preduice on steroids and but 'Mrs Bennet' was far smarter than the original.

The most recent BBC 'historical production' has only has I think 8eps of 30min. The Other Bennet Sister,by Chinese standards it full of ugly people. The lead actress had been told by casting directors that she had an old fashioned face so I think this her fourth period drama.
I think most of tv drama now on any platform now the main pressure is time and money, and because they are selling advertising, products and merch to fund it, and actor with a face that attracts people who the advertisers want.
Its not only the casting that suffers but the quality of the scripts and ideas behind them, If an actor has enough influence they form their own production teams in the US and UK and employ friends on mates rates. UK actors tend to treat acting as a skilled job so as long as they are working, an they think they can do the role they will do it. When I see a US production with a lot of UK actors in it I often think its because they are cheap and just turn up and do the job. They are usually good at US English.

I started watching Chinese drama from Youtube, a lot of it very old I know there are a lot of talented older actors who are now in support roles, or they do characters in modern drama, all the skills are there
they just seem to be out of fashion for leads, and perhaps no time to coach, the dubbing doesn't help because they are never going to get feed back from their line delivery. The UK has a vast amount of dialects and accents but all actors are taught standard English and regional accents so they can blend in to a production.
I think for young actors they are not allowed to fail, the pressure must be intense and I always think of Michael Caine who would just about
take any movie, so he has been in some really bad ones but the internet
did not destroy his career, or pick over his dating history

I think the actor in the POJ did a pretty good job, for what he was asked to do. The only problem was the character it's self had no drive, you could not imagine him leading troops, and because of the story format, they could not allow for him to be the brains and some troop leader to do the commanding of the army, In reality in most historical wars the leaders tend to stay out of the battle as they are not expendable.