Ok so I am a huge gifted series fan and it is hands down my most favorite non-bl thai series. Everyone who thinks season 1 was bad or unsatisfactory needs to get over themselves (There was going to be S2 so obviously S1 ended in a sort of cliffhanger). Therefore obviously I watched the series as it was streaming and I watched the finale weeks ago when the season ended. So why am I only now posting a review? It's because I was and still am pretty upset about my Pang X Wave ship getting wrecked. Let me hash it out first.
The Gifted Graduation was a very much awaited series for me. When I watched S1 it was in 2019 and it had already been released for almost a year and I binge watched that sh*t during a single weekend. And then I had to wait a whole year for S2. As you can guess the expectations were high from everybody. Then the trailer dropped which showed the series going from treasure hunt mystery to murder thriller level dark which was pretty exciting. The Season started perfect. The 1st gifted to be shown on the screen were the twins who were not given their own episode in S1 making them a fan favorite in an underdog kind of way. So obviously their entry was perfect and well deserved. The whole intro with Punn's piano playing in the background was thrilling. The planning and the new kids was fun too. And obviously since it's The gifted series, the twists were surprising and very well written. So where was the problem? I'll tell you.
- Despite the twins making the 1st entry and having screen time initially, they were once again neglected by the end of the series. And the worst part was so were some of the others. In the later episodes many of the gifted became simply a footnote in the whole story. Many characters like Mon, Korn, Ohm, Joe and Jack were visibly absent in the episodes after the Gifted Class 8's sort of disbandment.
- Miss Darin's background should have been explored or there should not have been a mystery in the first place. It was shown as if she had powers but nothing was clarified and then her character simply disappeared.
- I didn't like the Claire Punn breakup as Punn's episode is my fav in S1 but I did like his character development as he went from needing just Claire's love to maintain his mental stability to believing in himself and his friend's love and affection for him and being fine.
- I didn't think there was much exploration of Third's abilities. There were many other gifted in his batch other than him, Time and Grace but the 3 of them were the main characters so obviously Third's powers should have been explored a bit more.
- I liked the suspense behind Grace's powers but was kinda disappointed that after the whole mystery and sh*t, she simply got rid of her potential (I don't hate that part but I don't love it either).
- Wave's potential did not seem to advance that much. As for Pang I liked that at the end he was able to control the Director which was impossible before but his potential did not have much exposure either.
- I feel like at the end the Director should have lost his powers like Korn and Grace because all his arrogance was from the fact that he was a gifted but I'll accept the current ending too.
- Lastly I'm pretty upset about the ending. Like not that they should have taken out some parts but rather they should have added some parts. I love Namtarn but her coming in the end in this Season did not seem as impactful. The whole season there were very heavily implied that Pang and Wave had feelings for each other and Wave even decided to go to a lower level college for Pang (Classic boyfriend move). The end should have been them going to college together or something. Even if it wasn't that they should have atleast put in a graduation scene with all the Gifted given that the Season was named freaking Gifted : Graduation.
Apart from these details everything else from story to reveals to acting were all pretty perfect for me. I would totally love a season 3 but I feel like there isn't much that can be done storywise. Maybe some special episodes would be better and definitely very well appreciated. I would also like it if there was a separate BL series with Chimon and Nanon. I know Chimon has already played a BL character (incidentally Nanon was in it too albeit they weren't coupled together). I hope they get their own BL series, I know all the thai BL fans are gonna freak the f*ck out.
Anyway as far as the gifted series goes there is no question that regardless of how it turned out, it's one of the best thai shows to watch.