Reviews

Not a clue what’s happening

I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING BUT WE ARE SO BACK. This was some show about jewelry? I dont know. Why they always putting these two in these shit-ass shows. THEY HAVE SOME OF THE BEST CHEMISTRY BRO. Like big dragon was cheeks but it was good cheeks this is just cheeks. Locking in for twin and locking in to see them kiss. I can do this I swear. I'm knocking down shows. The only show that has had the ancient plot and the real-world one and has pulled it off is The Sign and this show is very much not pulling it off. WHAT IS HAPPENING? Why did she kill her sister? Im so confused. And what does this. Oh he's the girl. I’m so confused how these plots are even connected. HES GETTING SET UP. That would be a great plot. I started it too late. 9/10 okay bye!

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I'm trying to get my Ex back.

It's cute to see him trying to coax her. She's mad at him but still they're friendly enough to each breakfast together. Chen Luzhou trying to make Xu Zhi jealous, and Xu Zhi's reaction wasn't what he wanted. Li ke saw Xu Zhi and asked him like bro she's not jealous so what did you do it for? And he was like no she's just pretending, but we know she isn't lol. What Li Ke said shocked Luzhou, that if she's jealous at least she cares but if she's not jealous then she doesn't care about you anymore and has moved on. He's so adorable he was sulking like "Could it be harder than winning my ex back?" His roommate is cute, oh so you asked me for that timetable for you ex. Our second male lead is such a good character Jiang yu, giving him advice and telling him to cherish what he have. Wow that was so hot, pulling her in through the door and pinning her to the wall. Omgggg finally at least they didn't cut the whole scene. Too stiff to be honest.

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Gao to the rescue

Interesting form of waterboarding. Not familiar with this execution technique. Gao did well with the knockout potion in food. Hai’s grin at eating meal said he knew something up. I am not sure how things will go for those left behind but I am glad Mr 8 helped AnTu. Gao sneaky with all his money saving. But bittersweet that he knew what BingWen planned and still drank the tea. 😭 I wish he could have made it back to town because BingWen got message to new Queen. I think he left off the part where he was going there to make non dead army😝 New Queen will deserve whatever she has coming. She has already managed a groom for AnTu and they’ve not been there a day. Hai is locked up in sky prison with no help in sight. New Queen wants him gone. BingWen is on the way and AnTu being married off to neighboring realm. I do wish mom was alive so I could see her response to eldest daughter. Something happened for AnTu to be left in Yong ten years basically forgotten so not sure what deal was made. Maybe whatever arrangement she had with Cao. Who knew that as a child he was the nice one of the three.😝 There will be no Mr Gao or Queen to rescue them this time. They are going to have to figure out things on their own. Losing the element of surprise thanks to BingWen is really working against them. The cast has done an excellent job bringing out the various emotions to draw in audience. These last couple episodes have you traveling with Hai and feeling his journey along with him. Can’t wait to see BingWen get slammed with penalty for using seal. Hope munchkin Queen gets to enjoy that along with him😝 These two deserve each other.

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Exes to Lovers

KRISTSINGTO IS BACK BABY!!!😍My mental health was riding on this to be great. The wait for this was insane! It has been 7 years since they last acted in a BL series together (Our Skyy episode 5), 5 years since they last acted in a series together (I'm Tee, Me Too), 3 years since they last acted in an acting project together (Baby Bright 3: Double Trouble), and 1 year 29 days since the pilot trailer for The Ex-Morning have been released. On top of this series being their long-awaited reunion, it is based on their real lives. So, it is an understatement to call this just a regular BL show.Before I get on to my LONG review, I want to say that announcements of their first day of filming got me out of my 5-year BL slumber. During my five month wait for this series to air since January of this year, I have rewatched SOTUS for the millionth time, taught myself on the history of KristSingto (might have missed some things as I wasn't there for most of it), and gained a lot of respect for PeBaCa (Peraya - KristSingto, Babii - OffGun, Polca - TayNew: Original 3 Pillars of GMMTV BL). By the way, even if Krist & Singto were not in this show, I would still watch it because I LOVE the exes-to-lovers trope and the news show aesthetic, so everything coincidentally is right up my alley.Lets talk about the plot!I just loved everything about this. Coming into this episode, I was expecting the introduction of our leads, hints of their past relationship, their first reconnection, establishment of the tone & genre, and the hook. Needless to say, I got all of that. The episode got me hooked with showing the flashback of Pathaphi & Tamtawan beginning their careers and them being in a healthy, sweet relationship, which showcased their humble, innocent start. After that info action packed first scene, the show skipped to four years later, showing Pathaphi in his dream condo with a majestic view of his face on the billboard, but he is still not happy as he doesn't have Tamtawan by his side. This is such a parallel to Krist & Singto with Krist having a successful acting, music, & hosting career, but Singto was not in GMMTV anymore, at that time. I also really appreciate that the show touch on cancel culture with showing us how hard it is to quit with sponsorships suing and how quickly the fans change from loving him to hating his guts & throwing cups at him. I mean I get it, Pathaphi is a jerk, but that doesn't give you the right to give him a concussion. Plus, Tae was being a jerk too, but since he got hot coffee thrown at him, people viewed him as 100% innocent since he is a victim. When Tamtawan returned, the spark in Pathaphi reignited. Their dynamic, especially in the laptop scene, is really shining. I want to give a shoutout to the bar scene. I can't imagine what Pathaphi is feeling of hearing his ex says that "Phi is mine" after he broke up with Phi with no explanation. I imagine the angst is going to be crazy as Phi is going to be haunted by flashbacks the longer he is with Tam. This episode has a great balance between humor & drama like it really understood the genre of romcom. It also gave us enough introductory knowledge of the past & present versions of Phi & Tam while keeping some stuff a secret to make fans intrigued for the next episode like why did they broke up. Also, I am such a flashback person as I love the back and forth scenes between flashbacks and present day as it really shows contrast like we just saw them being so lovely dovely and now, they are exes with a vengeance (loving the black & white filter at the very start & end of a flashback to separate it with present day scenes). Plus, don't get me started on the references to SOTUS like with Pathaphi wearing the red jacket, the "you are my sun" quote, and the stare down at the final scene. In addition to that, the references to their real lives are insane as the timeline of Phi & Tam's relationship aligns with Krist & Singto's friendship with Phi & Tam breaking up in 2021 and Singto leaving GMMTV in 2021. By the way, I so relate to the quote "Its a dream I never dared to dream" by Rita because same.As for the directing, I was a bit scared since I heard some people didn't really like P'Lit's other works besides SOTUS and rom-com is an easy genre to mess up, with some GMMTV shows being too much of a comedy and others being too much of a drama. However, the show really hit the mark by giving us a great balance of comedy & drama (as said before). For example, the scene with Tam & Phi arguing in Phi's office is a good mix of rom & com, then it switched to romance as Phi is protecting Tam's head while staring at him, and then it switched back to comedy again with the laptop being broken. The transitions between the moods is seamless as it doesn't give you whiplash nor is it being too predictable. The camerawork is also good with the zoom-ups during the staring scenes and it is a good support for the tone. I also liked it during the action scene at the beginning. Usually, I don't really like when a character gets in the way of another character about to be hurt because it looks like they have time for both of them to get out of the way, but here I didn't mind it at all. Pathaphi appeared in front of Tam really quickly, which shows there wasn't much time to push him out of the way. The action chorography looking pretty natural also help with that. The music is amazing. I am always picky with the background music choice, so I am really surprised that this matches my standards as each song really enhance the scene. Another thing I was surprised about is the styling. I tend not to talk about fashion since my taste in my clothing is kind of bad, but dang they look hot! This is a nice change from SOTUS since characters tend to wear the same outfits because they are students (maybe that is why GMMTV mostly do school dramas because letting the cast wear uniforms help save money lol). Side Note: How does Singto not sweat wearing that black turtleneck in the Thailand heat?!Krist & Singto still got it! The similarities between their characters & them, the use of improv, their long-lasting friendship, and the comfort they felt on set really help with the acting quality for this show. They really made me so invested in the world of Pathaphi & Tamtawan, just like they did with Arthit & Kongpob in SOTUS. Singto is killing it with the cheeky, flirty yet patient personality and Krist is slaying it with the bratty, closed-off, hot-headed personality. Plus, Krist is the king of stank eyes. We didn't get a lot of scenes with the side characters yet since we are just getting introduced to our leads, so I hope we will see more of them as I love every single one of them (yes, Tae included even if he looks like a mountain goat brat). I am looking forward to see more of Aou & Krist's scenes as I heard that they used the script as bullet points lol. Also, I think we will get to see Jamie & Earn in episode 3 and Ohm probably in episode 4 or 5. I am going to stop writing about the acting segment for now because if I continue writing, I might write an entire thesis or two analyzing each scene haha.Usually, I would talk about predictions for the next episode, but since this story is based off of Krist & Singto, I feel like my predictions might be a bit too spot on where it can be seen as a spoiler, so I will be very brief about this. I think Tamtawan broke up with Pathaphi for selfless reasons, maybe he felt like he was holding Pathaphi back. I will stop right there since that reason really aligns with their real lives. However, I will talk about elements that were added on for the sake of fiction. Upon rewatch, I noticed some things I didn't saw before. First off, it is that Tae definitely knows that he is on air. A lot of people have said this already since he is going to be the antagonist, so people find him sus and suspected him & his team purposefully causing the broadcast to have an error and kept on filming. I agree fully with this theory. However, I saw something that I haven't seen anyone pointed it out yet. After Tae walked around the desk and before he took off his jacket, one of the crew members whispered-yelled to him "Hey Tae" and pointed at the board, showing they were live. This means that Tae knew he was live and didn't warn Pathaphi, which makes sense since he doesn't like him. I don't know if him & the crew planned that since the beginning or it was a spur of the moment & the crew was looking out for him.Another thing is that Pathaphi brought up the fact that he doesn't like him owning Tamtawan something twice. I didn't thought much of it until someone brought it up to my attention. Maybe before they broke up, they had a lot of fights leading up to it and Tamtawan probably said something hurtful to Pathaphi like "you owe me this". For example, if Pathaphi wasn't supportive of Tamtawan studying aboard, Tamtawan probably responded back with "you owe me this. You owe me my dream". Not saying that happened, but he probably said that line to something I don't know yet.Last thing I saw was the candlestick and flowers in Tamtawan's house. When they flashback to the scene of Tamtawan watching the news, I saw a candlestick and flowers on his dining table, looking like he was planning a date. This makes me think that Tamtawan probably dated some people after Pathaphi, kind of like how Singto had some BL partners after Krist. This is probably not important to the plot, but I just wanted to highlight that if they ever bring up each other's love lives after their break up.I am really looking forward to the next episode and more. I am hoping we will see flashbacks of them asking each other out, them before they got into their relationship, and why do Pathaphi & Tae hate each other (maybe it is because Pathaphi is a jerk, but I feel like there is something a bit deeper than that) soon in later episodes. (I wrote this section before episode 2 got released)Favorite Character: Pathaphi, Tamtawan, & Yong (Yes, I know that Pathaphi is a jerk, but red is my favorite color. I just love that Tamtawan is so cheeky. I never seen Pai act before, but he is doing great with Yong by making him very relatable and not too serious (they mentioned in the special episode that he was supposed to be uptight)).Favorite Scene: The first scene with them on the drug heist case (its so heartwarming to see them working together & being affectionate (at this point, am I talking about the characters or the actors lol)), the laptop scene, the kiss scene (of course), and the last scene with the handshake (love the stares & the music. Plus, it referenced to the stare down in the last scene of episode 1 of SOTUS).I gave this episode a 10 due to the execution of the plot, the acting, the camerawork, the music, and basically everything else lol. There is not anything that I didn't like, even if I were to be picky.By the time I am writing this, I have already watched the second episode as I couldn't wait to finish this review before watching the next one lol, but that gives me more reasons to rewatch the second one as I wait for the third one to come out. Can't wait for future episodes!P.S. Usually I would finish a review for an episode before I watched the next episode, but I couldn't help myself for this show. Thankfully, I written half of my review before the second episode got released.P.S.S. I was reading the lyrics of "Renew OST" by Krist and it really helped me be very in tune to Pathaphi's emotions even more than I already am.P.S.S.S. I am so not used to the lack of product placement and the short intro. I have been watching SOTUS a lot to the point that a show not having a 3 minute long intro and 20+ products is unusual to me LOL P.S.S.S.S. Some people are thinking that Phi broke up with Tam. It is actually Tam breaking up with Phi. They mentioned that in the first episode when Yong says "the one who got dumped doesn't even know why". If he was referring to Tam as the one who got dumped, then he would say "he" since Tam just left the room, but he used a far away reference "the one who got dumped". Also, this aligns with Krist & Singto's story with Singto coming up with the idea of splitting up from work. Plus, in the Renew OST by Krist, they showed a very brief scene of Tam breaking up with Phi.

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Brothers

Wow…did not see the three musketeers of power born in Yong school. Cao and Marquis did a good job masking their friendship. BingWen had power bug early…the ability to coldly kill at very young age. Cao took the hit to become eunuch. They made themselves the power force behind the empire and were pretty damn good at it. BingWen has made all our crew wanted and has done something to Emperor. Now he possesses fish and seal and plans to create an undead army out of Dongxia. He obviously doesn’t know or care about whatever repercussions the seal exacts from user. He is still under the assumption that the cost is to the little guy. How could he be so close to the pulse of the empire and so unaware the Emperor had it? Xiao Zhan gets acting award for that glare as BingWen leaves his cell. The road of hate has been paved now. LuFen did his last lie for the cause and then killed. And now Mr 8 is going to be let in on the secret about her dad. There is no way to know which way that fall. BingWen heads for the world rather than just kingdom. Stopping him is going to be difficult, but his bridges with buddies has been permanently burned. Gao is too friendly with him. Is it a cover or is he walking the tightrope to really keep Hai safe? BingWen said he was trying to protect Hai too😝 Maybe that was just until he could be made fall guy for emperor. AnTu’s hands are tied and she doesn’t have the same clout but she always finds a way to be his best defense so hoping she comes up with something.

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Light reading

Mr 8 confirmed painting was her father’s and he gave her a cover story. His eyes went to the boxes above that, so what is he still hiding? AnTu and Hai still determine who is third enemy and not ruling out Gao. There is a mystery about him that he is not telling. How that intertwines with current events is still to be determined. Hai has gone to the source and learned Lu Min is BingWen. So is this really his third enemy even tho things pointing this direction? Having the personnel list written by YiPing an excellent find. Was this due to his machinations with colleague or is a mentor still pulling strings from behind? Is BingWen protecting or spying on daughter? Giving her so much freedom to immediately change the rules is not going to sit well with her. So is he trying to get info via AnTu thru his daughter? There are still too many questions. Is BingWen like LuFen who is capable of great good and evil? Hai accepts the new course he has chosen but where does that lead? All waters around mentors is murky. Glad he and AnTu a united front. I hope he keeps antidotes available and AnTu makes him practice with crossbow😝Something is off with both mentors as intrigues continue.

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Five Stars

Manman planned it well and manipulated Wei Shao's man to raise the Qiao Flag in Boya and now Wei Shao found out about it and went to confront her, but she's so talented in acting he really can't do much to her. Then when he told her about Bi Zhic's win, look at her smug face. Oh man he admitted I can't out talk you, she's good with her words. And now she's planning to take Xiaogang before Wei Shao get's there. He's so childish, the fourth task to bring my bedding back to the main chamber, I'm going to battle Lady Qiao over every inch of land. I'm being honest here, these four generals together are so chaotic and even now while shifting the room they're so chaotic. Wei Shao's having nightmares on this stormy night, and Manman comforting him is so wholesome.

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