Plotless Society
Overall: It started off with a bang but quickly deteriorated. I yelled "noooooo" several times while watching in disgust at the poor writing. This is deja vu of The Cupid Coach. It says the story will continue but I sincerely hope not.Content Warnings: non con/dub con turned consensual?
What I Liked:
- well the beginning was definitely an attention grabber and rarely seen in BL, but this ended up feeling like click bait
- I liked that they gave the episode an English title (Ambiguous) because I've rarely seen that in Thai BL
- acting was ok, the female friend was my favorite
Room For Improvement:
- it was both slow and very choppy, scenes sometimes jumped ahead time wise to another scene, they didn't feel well connected to one another. That ending was awful, it just skipped/jumped with zero context.
- nonsense plot, how Guy treated/behaved towards Nut made absolutely no sense especially at the end
- Nut's friend should not have kissed him in Nut's vulnerable/distraught state
- I did not feel chemistry between actors
- the camera work is lower budget/amateur
- though I liked the style of the subtitles, they do have a few errors (pretty sure that his boss isn't his mom and that was supposed to be ma'am)
- the sound was pretty quiet, I had to turn my computer volume all the way up
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First project from an tyro production team with loads of flaws but several points of interest
I totally disagree with most of the comments and I find them exaggerating. I am enjoying this show. I am not saying it is very good because it obviously is not. It has several issues, including technical ones, and it is often amateurish on both sides of the camera. Yet the story is interesting, the set and the milieu are refreshingly unusual, and the actors show potential. They act well enough for rookies. The whole thing improved as they went along. I particularly like that it is not a "romance", it is a love affair of an idealistic but compromising young designer and a cynical and narcissistic playboy who is clearly gonna change for the boy but at this stage does not want to. I am definitely curious about the follow-up.Was this review helpful to you?
Abyssmal
I won't bore you with a long review, but this is the dullest, most pointless BL I've seen. The acting is non-existent, the plot is pedestrian, the whole thing is filmed on an iPhone, the editing is incompetent, the sound is poor, and there's no ending. It just... stops. There's a card that says it will be continued, but as far as I know it's over. There are scenes that are shot so poorly that there are characters that I didn't even realize were there until they spoke.The central relationship doesn't really do anything - until suddenly it does a LOT, and while I think the love scene is supposed to be consensual, the way it's filmed and the way the characters act afterwards, it's a bit questionable, although I think that might just be the total lack of acting. I will say that the main character has a surprisingly beautiful body when you finally get to see it, and he's cute when he smiles, which is like twice.
I can't recommend this at all.
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Choppy
This started off really well the beginning of this drama and I was like Wow and sitting up straight, after the tad bit scene it was down hill after that, it was so disappointing, to have such a tease in the beginning!!!Well the beginning was definitely an attention grabber and rarely seen in BL, but this ended up feeling like click bait, after that it was literally pointless and quite honestly baseless, there was no real story behind it and cinematography was really choppy and even dark at some parts the camera man did not have a steady hand at all, the sound was poor to the point of non existent at times, it was like it was filmed through a phone instead. There was a lot room for improvement, the actors were all over the show and again non of them made any sense. After such a good start its just goes downhill and then it just Stops with no ending and no real reason as too what transpired.
If you want a watch a whip lash drama then this is it, you literally have your head spinning around!!!
Overall it was not good
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Slow, has issues, but improved over time.
I read many of the reviews here and I felt like they were unreasonably harsh, so I wanted to chime in.The first 1.5 episodes were very slow and I nearly dropped it. However, things did pick up a bit and eventually I was curious to see where things would end up story-wise. The story isn't horrible, and had potential, but there are probably better ways of telling it.
There are quite a few sound issues and I had to adjust my volume up or down accordingly in each episode. Vocal tracks being too quiet, music being too loud, things sounding "tinny" or occasionally it sounded like the mics were too far from the actors. But, for me, these kinds of issues don't make or break a small low-budget production like this.
Visually it wasn't the worst, but there are some scenes that had questionable choices for camera angles or camera movement. The sets were okay, but simple. Lighting was... well, nothing of note? It just looked like real life, so nothing spectacular, nothing pretty or artsy, no sun shining through leaves or dancing on the water, etc. Things were lit. That's that. lol
The acting could be improved upon, but considering they're all newbies I think with some workshops and more experience that most of them could do well in the future.
The one area where I think they need the most improvement is with their English translations. I could gather the gist of what they were trying to get across most of the time, but I'm fairly certain that my lack of comprehension affected my ability to fully enjoy some of the show. I believe there were some scenes that I grasped a general concept, but missed out on nuances that actually made the scene valuable.
So, in the end it's not my favorite, but I didn't hate it. I don't regret watching it, and I'll watch the second half.
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This review may contain spoilers
I liked it and would like to see the series completed.
It feels a lot like a Youtube series than a studio production, not that there is anything wrong with that. If you don't compare this to large budget and major studio productions, it is fine. This is a low budget drama with beginning actors and actresses, or maybe more accurately the first professional acting job for for most of them. I thought the acting was actually pretty good for them not being seasoned actors and actresses.I liked the basic idea of the two characters that were buddies all through school (college?), and how they sorta had a crush on each other, or just felt comfortable together. They even worked together and did everything as a couple. But they weren't a couple, and couldn't talk about it or express their true feelings. Then you throw into the mix a new guy co-worker who pursues one of the pair, and chaos ensues. It was an interesting story in general, but not much gets resolved in the end. (But might be in a sequel?) I think the story was a lot more realistic and relatable than the crap we get from Mame that is wildly popular for some reason.
There are definitely some issues with various parts of this series from the music being louder than the dialogue at times, to some aspects of the story being a bit confusing. That being said, I have occasionally seen as bad or worse from the major studios. Even GMM and the other large players have put out some pretty bad stuff, not everything is SOTUS or Tale of a Thousand Stars. I think many people are way too harsh on their ratings of this series. The same people who are disparaging this series also seem to be very critical of other series, like if it isn't perfect in every way they can't get over it. So maybe take some of these comments with a grain of salt.
This was pretty short and you don't have to invest a lot of time to watch it. It doesn't drag on for dozens of episodes which is a nice change. You can binge watch this in an afternoon, and maybe it is best done that way instead of spreading it across days or weeks. I liked it and would like to see the series completed. I also would like to see more from this studio to see if they can grow and fix the few things they got wrong.
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And the BAD Award goes to .......
The story revolves around friends/colleagues in a company, Nut, Mick and Sa. The orientation isn't very effective in showing the situation and relations within the company, but Nut is made to work on a freelancer whom he does not like from the start. They have to enter a competition for an award known as the BAD Award (I can't tell if this is intended to be a joke).The first thing that strikes me about this series is that the script needs to undergo at least a few rounds of brutal revisions even if the trajectory of the story remains the same. Several aspects of the production fall on the amateurish side. The music sometimes drowns out the voices. In some scenes, the lighting seems insufficient and in other scenes, the color scheme seems a little to "naturalistic" when the colors could have been brighter and more vibrant--they can be quite different from what the poster leads us to expect. Post-production work could have been improved.
The acting isn't terrible for actors with barely any experience, but it isn't very good either. The actress who plays Sa is probably the best even though her role isn't the most important. The quality of the series isn't very consistent, especially at the start, which is perhaps one reason viewers have not taken very well to it.
Ep 1: Ambitious
- Nut is made to work with Guy, whom he doesn't like. (The reason isn't compelling even though the episode drags on for very long.) Nut's friend, Mick, is in love with him. 5 minutes of solid footage with a good script and skillful editing will probably do better than an entire episode here.
Ep 2: Inspiration
- Not exactly an inspired episode. Nut becomes friendlier to Guy (quite abruptly). A more pleasant side of Guy, but the character lacks overall coherence. He seems like different people in the same body.
- Mick's character needs a reboot: he could have been the character that the audience sympathizes most with, but ends up coming across as being unreasonable,
Ep 3: Trust
- Mick is accused of some wrongdoing. Once again, the episode drags out for too long. I like how Nut trusts Mick even though they have kind of fallen out. Nut, Mick and Sa's closeness as a team is nice to see.
Ep 4: Weekends
- Things go quite ok at first. Mick seems to have come to terms with the reality that his feelings for Nut are unrequited, and even creates a chance for Nut and Guy to be together. Then Guy's bizarre behavior immediately after confessing his love to Nut spoils everything. I'm sure there can be some explanation for it, but it is not a good way to end Season 1. It looks written in just so that there will be a cliffhanger for Season 2. An intern is brought in right at the end of the episode. I'm guessing that with the addition of this intern, there can be two BL couples and a happy ending for everyone in Season 2--if it is made and if it does decide to create a bigger mess.
Given that the production is most likely a rather low-budget production with people who are not very experienced, it is passable in many ways. However, it is really in need of better scripting. When entire chunks of the script can be deleted, what can the rest of the production team do to salvage the series? The writing does have the potential to be economical, e.g. when Nut jokes that he and Mick (separately) need to get married before Sa, Mick says that he's just waiting for Nut to say yes. Mick's one-sided love for Nut can be conveyed clearly without needing more words as long as the director directs the actors to act in a certain way. The initial tension between Nut and Guy can also be more economically conveyed with a clearer clash between them in the office.
Hopefully Season 2 will see a marked improvement.
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Bleh
Ok so for starters, I always start every drama with a 7/10 and it can go down or up after that. I assure you in the 4 eps of this dumpster fire, it took no time at all to drop tf outta the score. Being as I'm no quitter, I stuck it out with little intention/hope of it getting better. Nothing made sense. Yes, the actors being new probably has a good bit to do with it which explains the stiffness of well....everything! But honestly, the story is dumpster juice. Not even sure if there was a story. I think the ending came with a uppercut of surprises but they were short-lived. Don't recommend and won't watch again.P. S. Don't be surprised when friends/family don't agree/like the person you want to be with but PLEASE for the sake of yourself, notice the red flags yourself and if someone only cares about you from the shadows that person doesn't really care about you!
Enjoy...
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This review may contain spoilers
Tinha muito pra dar certo, mas deu errado
Olha ... Essa série me parecia promissora. Vi o primeiro EP e criei expectativas, o plot, apesar de clichê, era interessante. De cara se percebia quem era o casal, que o amigo na verdade gostava do Nut, que a parceria na empresa ia dar certo. O que deu errado no meio do caminho? Como se estraga tanto uma série de 4 eps? Não sei.A pessoa que fez esse roteiro, não estava bem. A série parece ter pouco investimento, são poucos atores, poucas locações, não sei se o problema maior é a direção, mas alguns personagens tem atitudes estranhas... O Nut gosta do Guy, mas luta contra isso. O Guy gosta do Nut, mas age de forma dúbia. Mick gosta do Nut e esconde pra não perder a amizade. Sa, em alguns momentos aparenta estar do lado de Guy na disputa, já em outros aparenta estar do lado de Mick. O personagem Bright, pra ser um vilão, é o mais apagado da história.
Mas o que estraga tudo mesmo, o que dá ranço, raiva, é o final... Gente, que final sem sentido... Nada faz sentido, nada se decidiu, nada ficou claro. De imediato pensei que fosse a deixa pra uma segunda temporada, mas já faz mais de um ano e nada nada foi divulgado, ou seja, foi com Deus.
A única coisa que se salva é a ost, que é linda. De resto, eu não perderia meu tempo de novo, nem tampouco indico a ninguém.
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