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Friend Zone 2: Dangerous Area thai drama review
Completed
Friend Zone 2: Dangerous Area
0 people found this review helpful
by 8392225
Oct 10, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
This review may contain spoilers

I was not even interested. But this is better than S01 and even makes IT retrospectively better.

First, I thought: Eh, second season of THIS?
The first season was a thing that ran for 12 episodes and while it WAS funny at places, I was certainly glad it was over. At least there was good opening song I could listen to, lol. And we are back to it now:-) Opening credits are great and maybe more intriguing than the actual "drama":-) Listening to the full 3,5 min version twice: S02 title song is GOOD.

First epi, I was not even interested in further continuation of "stories" that I felt only a lukewarm interest in to begin with... But then, they show us a flashback on the school days of the characters. We get a glimpse of how they became friends. Not just that, we get to (finally) see where those people were coming from, in contrast to the first season, where they just appeared and started doing this or that without me starting to care about them first. It's WAY more engaging a watch (yeah, there's even a "SOTUS" kind of situation:) Sadly, we then return to present day. Perhaps they should better have made a prequel series?

Epi 2: The flashbacks do continue! So, in a way, they did:-) They continue with with the present line too, though. And sometimes I got confused, because nobody looks any younger in the flashbacks:)
Nevertheless, it's kind of different, and better than S01. It's interesting how it's more fun to watch the relationships from S01 in early stages.

Next episodes, there's yet more screentime devoted to the university time line, and it's good that way. It puts the present line in better light. And not just that, even what we watched in S01. Way to retrospectively improve the previous series!:-) There is one relationship that is especially intriguing. Considering the relationship was not in S01, it's "the relationship that did not happen". Or, maybe it will get happy ending now in S02, which is both prequel and sequel?

Same can't be done for all the couples. So, the weakest one from season 1 got completely discarded, despite that the girl ended up pregnant with the guy so it looked like they were stuck together. No: she miscarried, and found a girl instead, lol. It's a bizarre casting of Apple Lapisara, almost unrecognizable with the hair. I don't care about this couple much. Still, it's better watch than S01.

The person I didn't care about AT ALL was the girl who is supposed to be an important frenemy of all the main characters (a character who was not in S01 at all). Closely followed by the girl who got the biggest photo on the crowded S02 poster, lol. When the two fight and one ends up in suicide attempt, I'd say it's time to quit the henhouse and call her parents/family to take over. But, this show is about "friendships"... So, no one but her "friends" comes to see her in the hospital? And with another character revealed as bipolar, after 10 episodes we got the fragile balance toppled over, with basically majority of the characters in a need of a shrink. Looked like the chance to make a good series the second time around, was shrinking, too...

I understand that Singto probably begged the producers that he doesn't want to be just the goodie good boy this time, but NOW his character makes no sense. Being cast against your usual type in some cases can result in the actors enjoying themselves more than the audience. First season, it was Best Nathasit only. Now, we have 2 cases.

Around episode 14 the show concentrates on the relationships (present timeline only) and I found myself invested in all of them (at least in compare with previous season), even the new girl-on-girl couple. I suddenly thought a it pitty there were only 2 episodes left. I was enjoying the show. I liked the layered characters. I appreciated how even their flaws were accepted in a positive way. And I agreed with one fellow review here about how the characters outlook formed in S01 shifted. Not everyone whose behavior was not likeable was actually that bad. Not everyone with likeable behavior was that good. Often characters were talking too much, which only brought unnecessary problems, just like we know from real life. Long string of loud complaining and nagging of some characters went pale in comparison when some characters just sat there for a while in silence, with a certain expression on their face. All this was conveyed well.

All that despite the casting of this show was always kinda questionable. Stud is supposed to be the most case-hardened of them all, yet you can see the boy portraying him is actually younger than all the other cast. Aye Sarunchana is quite young to portray her calm and mature character, too. Pluem Purim or Gap Thanavate were kinda giving me creepy vibe the whole time. But it didn't really have anything to do with their characters. The already mentioned Best Nathasit, I should expect him to put on the round glasses and start making funny faces every second. And he never did... This show, it was like almost everyone was cast AGAINST their type. But I tried to ignore it the best I could and enjoyed the drama well. Like, I actually liked that Tor proposed to Boom. Though again, Namtan Tipnaree was only 24, so her portraying a girl worrying about getting married in time looked premature, BUT her character and Tor's went through so much, their relationship kinda needed to be this cemented:-)
On the other hand, Earth's only relationship that was still firm was with Boom, his former university girlfriend:-) The scene where he took her to the altar was nice, else Earth's character totally dissolved, as the only one here.

This might not be the most memorable show, after all it was just about "simple" relationships, nevertheless the amount of storybuilding, meaning and conclusion they managed to present out of the material from the totally blah & random 1st season is impressive.
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