When Cute is not Enough
Over five years ago, “Lovesick - the Series” and it’s sequel “Lovesick 2” paved the way for the Thai BL genre. It opened the door for main stream young gay characters where the focal point of the story is their love relationship. Before “Lovesick” gay relationships were were often relegated to a secondary role. “Lovesick’s” success is due to a simple storyline, two lovable lead actors, straightforward interactions between secondary characters, and an iconic OST in “Shake” which is the best song from any Thai series regardless of genre. “Lovesick” made the slew of BL series, movies, and short films that followed possible as it showed high interest level for the genre. You know you’ve arrived when you’re one of the few series with a BL theme that’s playing on Netflix in the US.“Thank God it’s Friday” (TGIF) is supposed to carry on the “Lovesick” franchise as it takes place five/six years after the Seniors from “Lovesick” graduated. The Friday College Music Club is again in financial difficulty. Because of their lack of appreciable success and maybe actually music playing ability, they enlist the help of the music club at their sister school in Chaing Mai for assistance. Although their initial meeting was rocky, the two groups bond and relationships (both platonic and otherwise) occur.
TGIF is directed by Andy Kusolkulsiri the same director as the both the “Lovesick” series'. Unfortunately, the only connections between “Lovesick” and TGIF are the school’s name (Friday College), the music club that the two groups are involved in, and a brief exchange between Jump and Yong in episode 1 where Jump refers to Noh as his idol and Yong asking Jump if he knew the rumor of Phun and Noh being in a relationship. Let’s forget about the weird suggestion at the end.
Although the three main couple storylines were fairly straightforward, where TGIF fails is that the storyline was muddled, had unnecessary side stories that we’re confusing, poor character development, random intrigue between characters that don’t make sense, and a main plot line of the Bangkok music club getting help getting completely lost. Could these guys actually play or not? I was often left wondering if I missed a half episode in between episodes because I couldn’t figure out what was going on for awhile at the start of each episode, it took a while to settle into an episode.
I felt like the overall story was being made up as they went along. Let’s start with the premise of saving the music club. That isn’t working so let’s focus on the budding relationship between Home and Jump. That’s turning out bland so let’s focus on the Por and Yong and the Lun and Nana relationships but fail to give it real substance because they’re not the main characters. The lack of storyline focus was confusing especially when they added the other side stories and characters without enough development. How long can you run a minor storyline of a missing condom from a bag?
I did find that the story and characters matured from episode to episode - to a point. That point was pretty much at the middle of the series when the three couples end-up at the dam. After their return back to Chaing Mai everything, with the exception of the Lun and Nana story, regressed.
The young female actors were actually not bad but unfortunately the performances of the male actors were all over the place. This is a failure in casting where it appears they favored cute over substance. The main characters of Jump and Home we’re so wooden it was sometimes painful to watch. Their acting did get better as the series progressed but as their bangs got longer their acting again got worse. The second couple of Por and Yong were fine but, their storyline could have been streamlined with better developed conflicts and character struggles. The best developed and acted relationship was the third one between Lun and Nana. Their storyline and acting felt genuine due to the two actor’s having good chemistry and ability, which was lacking with the rest of the actors and couples.
The soundtrack of TGIF also seemed to get better as the series progressed - again to a point. The main soundtrack is cute and catchy. It’s no where near the level of “Shake” but pretty good. The Jump and Home relationship song at the dam was also pretty good. But just like the majority of the series, the music fell apart in the second half of the series with some awful music tracks sung by the actors in the series. Pluggy has a very unique voice, not sure of anyone else in the series has lead vocal quality, so if he was in the song it was fine.
Why I really come down hard on this series is because I’m watching this concurrently with a number of far better Thai series. The producers of TGIF chose to release it at the same time of the end of “Theory of Love” and “3 Will be Free” and the start of “TharnType”, “Dark Blue Kiss”, “I am your King 2”, and “Until We Meet Again.” Yikes! That’s crazy bad timing! How can you go up against those heavy hitters with green actors and a poor script? The quality of the storyline and acting of TGIF pales in comparison to any of those series. I rate each of the aforementioned series between a 9.5 and 8, while I give TGIF a generous 6. Maybe if I watched TGIF during a period where no BL series running I would be more forgiving,
Five years have passed since the groundbreaking “Lovesick” series. The Thai BL genre has evolved so much in those five years that just having a cute series is not enough. I think that audiences are expecting more coherent and developed storylines, better writing and frankly better acting from their series, regardless of genre. I did stick around and watched all 12 episodes of TGIF so cute may have a place?
PS - Had to go to another site to watch the last episode as it’s been over a month and the producers of TGIF have yet to translate the last episode on YouTube, which they had diligently done a week or less post-release of an episode. Did they also give-up on the series?
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The young actors, male and female, are cute and endearing but raw. It will be interesting to see them in a few years if they continue on in this profession. All have talent, all need more coaching.
Was it all bad? Not at all. To me, the best performances were delivered by Ball (Lun) and Pang (Nana). There were the most polished of the cast.
Should you watch it? Yes.
If there is a sequel. I'll be interested is seeing it.
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This series is in the World of Love Sick, and it gives me the vibes of it, the story if it begin slow it startin to chat up and deepening, with cute scenes and moments, showing more of the troubles and problems and how all of that start to being a factor in all the couples.
The actors are all new and it shows, but the lack skill is compensated by their sweetness and innocence, and for me I love the chemistry of the main couple, is not a deep chemistry, but it feels particular and special, and that's why I love the protagonist. but also I love how the show doesn't forget too much the other sub couples.
Music-wise I feel it's a low point, not because is that bad, but one of the songs has been played a lot, so it's a bit repetitive.
the Story is starting to growing up so I'm fully expecting the next episodes and how it'll end. So I'll update this review.
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Amateur schoolplay with (literally) kids who cannot act
Yeah, blue shorts might be back, but seriously don't expect another 'Hormones':-//Actually they wore black shorts most of the time, but that's not the main problem:) Watching this doesn't really feel like you're watching proper series/drama. Someone took the trouble to make opening/insert credits that look professional, with big letters all across the screen so you won't miss all the stupid english "nicknames" for each brat (could live without it... they're thai, what's wrong with having a thai name?) and then they all stand like parrots and repeat the name of this "show" sponsor. Problems start when each actual episode begins.
Basically the child actors who cannot act portray the characters of musicans who cannot play (kinda fits) so they arrive in a small rural place where another group of kids awaits them to try and make them better (well, they could not possibly make them any worse), plus of course they will form couples (almost everyone is gay), though they are age when they probably still play with toys.
As for the "skinship", there was not really a kiss scene in this one for obvious reasons and if there was, then I was not sure whether I should report this, LOL. As for the script, they tried to touch some more serious problems towards the end but I'd prefer if they didn't. They originally have intended to improve their music, but I don't know where did that go.
Seriously, it's cute. There hardly is anything to be called "cinematography", it's all backgrounded with ever-repetitive bits of music, actually instrumental parts of the few songs they got permission (else god knows what we'd listen to), but I'm far from criticizing. It's watching cute kids:) Wanna watch cute kids for couple minutes? Didn't harm me, won't harm you. So if yes, watch it. Simple as dimple:)
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This review may contain spoilers
I make it a point not to post a rating or write a review until I've watched a series to its completion. TGIF ended nearly 3 weeks ago and the final episode has not been subbed. I did watch it raw, but didn't get certain answers I was hoping for, due to no translation. Grrrrr.Anyway... I can't say that TGIF was particularly good, yet I still enjoyed it. The actors were young, but adorable (especially Jump and Home), and the whole series had a feeling of sweetness and innocence about it.
The story had problems. For one, this "Friday Music Club" is made up of a bunch of high school boys that have no experience playing music. They go off to Khom Kaen for the purpose of improving, with their sights set on winning a huge music competition. (That in itself is ridiculous.) This was the whole premise of the story, and yet, we see no music competition, even at the end of the series. (I have no idea if it was mentioned in the final episode, because THERE ARE NO SUBS.)
Couples: as mentioned, I thought Jump/Home were adorable. Nana/Lun annoyed me, because Nana was such a bitch to Lun (and everyone else, too), while he followed her around like a lap dog. Por/Yong: I thought Por was cute (and a good actor), but I did NOT like Yong at all. I would have rather seen Por end up with Talay, who was a total sweetheart. The other couple was Thengthai/Giant, which was okay... they didn't get all that much screen time.
The singing in this BL was about the worst singing I've ever heard in any movie or series, ever!
Overall, I enjoyed this, it was cute... nothing more, nothing less.
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[MUST READ]] THE ANSWER TO WHY THE STORYLINE BIT WEIRD!
So I met petch(Jump) and the crew in Indonesia Airport they told because someone steal their production money, that's really sad tho... and they actually want to end it on the 9/10 episode or even don't want to publish to the TV but because of the fan enthusiast they decide to "force" to make a better ending then nothing, if you're indonesian try to search indo sub. if you're not indonesian sorry you won't know the sub in ep 12. overall i love the cast even they are newbie i see their potential tho.. and if not because that production money stolen issue.. i bet this will make a great hit such Make it Right tho.. and forget to mention the OST! omg like 3 out of 8 song make me goosebumps! loving it!Was this review helpful to you?
Produção duvidosa, porém muito fofos
Histórias muito fofas, atores lindinhos e eu como adolescente me senti muito representada por esses fofos. Produção não muito boa, assim como não se deve esperar muito da série, mas no geral dou 7.5/10 por ser fofíssima.Não é uma série em que se pode esperar muita coisa, pense como se fosse LoveSick e MakeItRight versão crianças (por mais que tecnicamente as personagens tenham a mesma idade nas três séries, o Cast dessa série têm muito mais menores de idade, por isso parecem tão bebês, tão fofinhos!!!!)
Sendo sincera eu pulei grande parte da série, já que ela é bem lentinha e cheia de diálogos "inúteis", mas nada que não dê para aproveitar os poucos momentos dos casais e os momentos fofos de amizade entre eles (até porquê o foco da série está longe de ser um BL, e sim um campeonato em que convenientemente são formados alguns vários casais, tanto gays como héteros)
NOTA: A grande maioria do elenco é composta por menores de idade, então não devem sexualizá-los, e a série fez isso MUITO BEM! Conseguiu trazer uma história boa, com casais fofos e não apelativos.
No geral eu amei acompanhar o desenvolvimento das personagens, por mais que o roteiro seja cheio de furos e espaços que não foram preenchidos. Queria mais séries assim... mas é bom que a qualidade das séries hoje em dia tenham melhorado.
Amei assistir, estava com saudades dos meus meninos de shorts azuis <3
Reassistiria com toda certeza! Principalmente as cenas do casal YongPor, (Síndrome do casal secundário ;'D)
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This review may contain spoilers
The is new "Love sick"?
Uma história leve, sem muitos dramas e tramas bombásticos, apenas meninos e meninas no início da adolescência descobrindo as sensações do primeiro amor.A série é de 2019, e é claramente inspirada no grande sucesso "Love Sick the series", e o "Friday" a que o título se refere, é o colégio Friday, que também ambientou "Love sick".
Com relação ao roteiro, como em 2019 já existiam grandes produções tailandesas ambientadas dentro das universidades, onde os rapazes de corpos sarados já faziam as fujoshis do mundo inteiro suspirarem, não é de se admirar que essa série tenha tido pouco investimento, visto que o mercado BL que inicialmente foi alimentado pelos meninos em ambiente escolar, já tinha mudado seus interesses. O plot da série é bem fofo, e em muitas vezes não tem muita lógica, mas qualquer um cai de amores pela fofura dos personagens, não foram necessários beijos e cenas ardentes para ser uma boa série, até pq os atores eram literalmente adolescentes na puberdade.
Existem furos no roteiro, por acaso todas essas crianças moram na escola? As crianças resolvem praticamente tudo na escola com pouquíssima intervenção de adultos responsáveis? Na festa, no penúltimo capítulo, novamente várias crianças desacompanhadas dormindo nas salas de aula? Essa falta de adultos me deixou incomodada, sinceramente.
A fotografia da série não é magnífica, mas também não é péssima, e a ost é simplesmente linda.
Em relação à atuação, não esperem muito, se tratam de crianças em seu primeiro trabalho na TV, e mesmo assim alguns atuaram melhor do que atores aclamados atualmente.
No mais, recomendo essa série, e com certeza pretendo assistir de novo, sempre que bater a saudade desses lindos bb"s. (O Home me conquistou todinha).
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