Chloe Kaydee
New Zealand
This review may contain spoilers
Not What I Expected
So, I finally got around to watching this series the other day because I know it's sort of a 'classic' when it comes to Thai BL dramas. I had put off watching it to begin with because I heard about how problematic it is (the Make It Right series as a whole) and the reviews for it weren't great.
Anyway, this means I watched all of the seasons and this special thing within two days. Basically, even though the show had its flaws and I didn't rate either season above a 6.5/10, I was invested in TeeFuse and FrameBook by the end. What I was expecting in this special was a fluffy, cute, matured storyline. And no, I don't mean THAT kind of mature. I meant it in the sense that everyone is a bit older and therefore, may have matured in their acting capabilities.
Which brings me the biggest pro of this special for me; Peak's acting. I have to say that it has improved drastically and he had me full on bawling like a baby. Like WOW. He portrayed the right emotions perfectly for the character and scene every time (even if the script wasn't great to begin with.)
But really, if we remove his acting performance, then this doesn't have a lot going for it.
This special was, unfortunately, poorly written.
[WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD SO IF YOU DON'T WANNA GET SPOILED, STOP HERE BUT JUST KNOW THIS SPECIAL WAS LOW BUDGET, POORLY WRITTEN, LACKED DEPTH AND KINDA ENDED WEIRD LOL BUT GIVE IT A GO IF YOU WANT TO WATCH IT SOLELY FOR TEEFUSE]
It felt slow and lacked any sort of energy or depth until the emotionally dramatic scenes. Slow pace is okay as long as it's purposeful and the plot is well developed nonetheless. However, that's not the case here. The plot was undeveloped and rushed for convenience. For example, they didn't explain WHY Tee's mum was suddenly against their relationship or why she was pushing them to break up. And then after we go through all that emotion and drama, it's all solved by a measly phone call? That completely negated all the conflict in a way that felt lazy. Based off of Tee's character in the series, it wouldn't make sense for him to accept breaking up with Fuse in the first place. Plus, he saw how much pain he was in and you're telling me he could have just said no to his mum that whole time? It just doesn't really make sense and I felt a little offended to be honest. It just felt like they wanted to make us cry and that was the only reason for scripting those scenes - instead of for the intention of the story etc.
Plus instead of relying on their actors to be able to portray certain emotions, desires, or thoughts, they just inserted captions to explain them? I really didn't like this idea because it interrupted the scene too much and therefore, disengaged me as a viewer. Peak and Boom are pretty good actors, I don't think the story needed the inserts. Another con is the ending for me. It was a little... Weird? I don't know.
Overall: mediocre soundtrack that lacked any variety, badly written and scripted, disengaging, and honestly fell when it came to chemistry too (however, I'm going to blame the script).
In saying all of this though, from what I understand, they didn't have a big budget for this project and I think it was created more to celebrate the three year anniversary of MIR/TeeFuse than anything else. So in that sense, it was decent.
I wouldn't rewatch it though unless I was in need of a solid cry (however, I might just watch a sad edit of The Untamed if I want that)
Anyway, this means I watched all of the seasons and this special thing within two days. Basically, even though the show had its flaws and I didn't rate either season above a 6.5/10, I was invested in TeeFuse and FrameBook by the end. What I was expecting in this special was a fluffy, cute, matured storyline. And no, I don't mean THAT kind of mature. I meant it in the sense that everyone is a bit older and therefore, may have matured in their acting capabilities.
Which brings me the biggest pro of this special for me; Peak's acting. I have to say that it has improved drastically and he had me full on bawling like a baby. Like WOW. He portrayed the right emotions perfectly for the character and scene every time (even if the script wasn't great to begin with.)
But really, if we remove his acting performance, then this doesn't have a lot going for it.
This special was, unfortunately, poorly written.
[WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD SO IF YOU DON'T WANNA GET SPOILED, STOP HERE BUT JUST KNOW THIS SPECIAL WAS LOW BUDGET, POORLY WRITTEN, LACKED DEPTH AND KINDA ENDED WEIRD LOL BUT GIVE IT A GO IF YOU WANT TO WATCH IT SOLELY FOR TEEFUSE]
It felt slow and lacked any sort of energy or depth until the emotionally dramatic scenes. Slow pace is okay as long as it's purposeful and the plot is well developed nonetheless. However, that's not the case here. The plot was undeveloped and rushed for convenience. For example, they didn't explain WHY Tee's mum was suddenly against their relationship or why she was pushing them to break up. And then after we go through all that emotion and drama, it's all solved by a measly phone call? That completely negated all the conflict in a way that felt lazy. Based off of Tee's character in the series, it wouldn't make sense for him to accept breaking up with Fuse in the first place. Plus, he saw how much pain he was in and you're telling me he could have just said no to his mum that whole time? It just doesn't really make sense and I felt a little offended to be honest. It just felt like they wanted to make us cry and that was the only reason for scripting those scenes - instead of for the intention of the story etc.
Plus instead of relying on their actors to be able to portray certain emotions, desires, or thoughts, they just inserted captions to explain them? I really didn't like this idea because it interrupted the scene too much and therefore, disengaged me as a viewer. Peak and Boom are pretty good actors, I don't think the story needed the inserts. Another con is the ending for me. It was a little... Weird? I don't know.
Overall: mediocre soundtrack that lacked any variety, badly written and scripted, disengaging, and honestly fell when it came to chemistry too (however, I'm going to blame the script).
In saying all of this though, from what I understand, they didn't have a big budget for this project and I think it was created more to celebrate the three year anniversary of MIR/TeeFuse than anything else. So in that sense, it was decent.
I wouldn't rewatch it though unless I was in need of a solid cry (however, I might just watch a sad edit of The Untamed if I want that)
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