Another Series Victim of Great Production But No Depth
I could tell the team behind this series genuinely tried their best in giving it the most possible depth they could give with the limited 8 episodes they had to work with, but in the end, there was only so much they could do while still doing justice to the novel.
The selling points of the plot were supposed to be the angst and forbidden love between Vayo and Blew, however, they weren't able to fully sell and capture the said selling points because, once again, they only had 8 episodes to work with. From the start, I already knew this was gonna be the struggle of the show, but I still gave it a chance because the plot is one of the first of its kind in the GL genre (let's not talk about Only You please).
My 7.5 rating is for the production, the acting, and the action scenes, because they all actually slap. Definitely a few wtf moments and unrealistic scenes, but it's a fictional show with fantasy elements (princess and commoner), so I let it slide.
What I would also like to pinpoint is how surface-level the 'intimate and getting to know scenes' were of Vayo and Blew. Sure, they were sweet, soft, and cute, but nothing that would have let the viewers understand why Vayo fell so deeply in love with Blew and why Blew was willing to step down from being the next queen and get stripped of her royal title. I was hoping for the "Oh shit, do I like her?" moments for both of them. But the writing and scenes made it clear that they already liked each other from the very beginning, so there was no thrill.
My final thoughts: I wish the writers understood the target audience with a plot like this. This plot works best with the effective accompaniment of elements of forbidden angst, battle of setting boundaries with respect to duty and status, and slow burn. Sure, they definitely slowed the burn, only giving Vayo and Blew episode 7 to truly 'be together ' but everything leading up to that moment felt very empty and wasn't convincing enough.
Overall, my only concerns were from the lack of depth in the romance aspect of Vayo and Blew which became even more apparent in the final scene when Blew told her dad she was stepping down as queen and how she couldn't live with Lom because girl, at that point, as a viewer I was questioning whether she was for real or simply infatuated with the fact that Lom kept saving her ass during the entire crisis.
I hope this is a lesson to upcoming GLs with plots like this that the build-up of the main characters' connection, intimacy, and tension is what makes or breaks a show like this. If only they had done a better job of setting up Vayo and Blew's characters as they fell in love, it would've made this show an instant, undeniable hit.
The selling points of the plot were supposed to be the angst and forbidden love between Vayo and Blew, however, they weren't able to fully sell and capture the said selling points because, once again, they only had 8 episodes to work with. From the start, I already knew this was gonna be the struggle of the show, but I still gave it a chance because the plot is one of the first of its kind in the GL genre (let's not talk about Only You please).
My 7.5 rating is for the production, the acting, and the action scenes, because they all actually slap. Definitely a few wtf moments and unrealistic scenes, but it's a fictional show with fantasy elements (princess and commoner), so I let it slide.
What I would also like to pinpoint is how surface-level the 'intimate and getting to know scenes' were of Vayo and Blew. Sure, they were sweet, soft, and cute, but nothing that would have let the viewers understand why Vayo fell so deeply in love with Blew and why Blew was willing to step down from being the next queen and get stripped of her royal title. I was hoping for the "Oh shit, do I like her?" moments for both of them. But the writing and scenes made it clear that they already liked each other from the very beginning, so there was no thrill.
My final thoughts: I wish the writers understood the target audience with a plot like this. This plot works best with the effective accompaniment of elements of forbidden angst, battle of setting boundaries with respect to duty and status, and slow burn. Sure, they definitely slowed the burn, only giving Vayo and Blew episode 7 to truly 'be together ' but everything leading up to that moment felt very empty and wasn't convincing enough.
Overall, my only concerns were from the lack of depth in the romance aspect of Vayo and Blew which became even more apparent in the final scene when Blew told her dad she was stepping down as queen and how she couldn't live with Lom because girl, at that point, as a viewer I was questioning whether she was for real or simply infatuated with the fact that Lom kept saving her ass during the entire crisis.
I hope this is a lesson to upcoming GLs with plots like this that the build-up of the main characters' connection, intimacy, and tension is what makes or breaks a show like this. If only they had done a better job of setting up Vayo and Blew's characters as they fell in love, it would've made this show an instant, undeniable hit.
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