This review may contain spoilers
Highly disappointing
4.5 stars because the production was good and the acting was good, sometimes. The plot is all over the place, this show is 80% nudity and love scenes, and the rest is actual storyline. 1.5 star out of my rating goes to Den, who I love dearly because he's not afraid to call Tyme out but he's also funny, the perfect mix of serious and unserious. Job did well in this character. His storyline had such potential (the research) but they really didn't go anywhere with it. I watched this show mostly because of Bible, and though he tried his best, there was only so much you could do with Great's character. You can only do so much to save a sinking ship. Great is a terrible character, completely irredeemable, the definition of a spoiled brat (hats off to Bible for portraying that well, if I hate the character, his acting played a big part in it). Jes's acting peaked in I think episode 6, and I came away from that episode incredibly impressed, I think it's the most emotion I've seen from Tyme's character. Tyme obviously has serious self-esteem issues because who would go back to a man like Great? He should see a therapist. But I actually think Tyme had potential as well. Sad that Jes didn't get to show off more of his acting as this character. Maybe soon, if 8 Hours ends up happening. But to me the ending of the show didn't make sense, Tyme really back-pedalled on his stance of Great. An interesting rendition of Stockholm syndrome, honestly.
Also the amount of nudity involving Fuaiz was concerning, it felt very forced, almost like the director had a fetish of seeing this young boy in these scenes. Yes, he was an adult, and both he and his parents consented (apparently), but that doesn't mean there wasn't a level of exploitation, besides, at his age a person is still developing mentally. So for me, this show was very uncomfortable.
Besides Bible, my other reason of wanting to watch was the initial press conference. The show seemed promising there. I really thought they'd go a different way with this story, and I feel that it really failed to live up to its full potential. The wrong threads were pulled and in the end, it all fell apart. I know they had to do a lot of rewriting or whatever due to what had happened behind the scenes, but they could've done better. They took a long time to release the show so I feel like there was time to make it good. But hey, what do I know? Anyway, I'm not sure what the point of 8 Hours would be, but I'm still going to watch because I'm curious of what they'll make of all of this. And I am a fan of Bible's work, so I'll stick around to see.
Overall, there are some interesting bits in the plot but unfortunately they focused on the wrong things.
Others might hold different opinions and that's fine, but what grabs my attention in shows is the acting, cinematography and writing, not any love scenes or fan service. Again, not a judgement on anyone, just my own opinion, but we all watch things for different reasons.
Also the amount of nudity involving Fuaiz was concerning, it felt very forced, almost like the director had a fetish of seeing this young boy in these scenes. Yes, he was an adult, and both he and his parents consented (apparently), but that doesn't mean there wasn't a level of exploitation, besides, at his age a person is still developing mentally. So for me, this show was very uncomfortable.
Besides Bible, my other reason of wanting to watch was the initial press conference. The show seemed promising there. I really thought they'd go a different way with this story, and I feel that it really failed to live up to its full potential. The wrong threads were pulled and in the end, it all fell apart. I know they had to do a lot of rewriting or whatever due to what had happened behind the scenes, but they could've done better. They took a long time to release the show so I feel like there was time to make it good. But hey, what do I know? Anyway, I'm not sure what the point of 8 Hours would be, but I'm still going to watch because I'm curious of what they'll make of all of this. And I am a fan of Bible's work, so I'll stick around to see.
Overall, there are some interesting bits in the plot but unfortunately they focused on the wrong things.
Others might hold different opinions and that's fine, but what grabs my attention in shows is the acting, cinematography and writing, not any love scenes or fan service. Again, not a judgement on anyone, just my own opinion, but we all watch things for different reasons.
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