This review may contain spoilers
Smokescreen, disillusion, waste of time
"Call It What You Want" wanted to deal with a sensitive and important subject and promised to show new perspectives for viewers of boys' love dramas. Everything is rushed and it's a shame bc this drama had potential.
The disappointment is as high as the expectation at the end.
The writing of the characters seems to have stopped halfway as if the screenwriter wasn't sure if he should really demonize the villain, break Bas psychologically or not, put forward Ait's immaturity or not, assume James' lack of personality and heroize Marco or not.
Bit part spoiler.
The dialogues are flat, without strong messages to the victims, to the audience, especially the exchanges between Ait and James, "I love you, do you love him, I don't understand why you're doing this, etc...." and Marco who told Bas to hold a press conference to talk about the sexual abuse/rape. Even a 10 year old would know to report to the police. *sigh*
This drama was meant to expose the dark side of the BL industry, to make us aware of the seriousness of the situation behind the glitter and the fanservice. It should have focused a little more on the process that led to Bas' suicide attempt, shown how the industry's bigwigs get away with their crimes, shown the responsibility of the journalists and crew for these behaviors/ abuses. And I think it'd have been possible if Ait and James had been given a little less screen time bc they don't bring anything to the story in this S 2.
The disappointment is as high as the expectation at the end.
The writing of the characters seems to have stopped halfway as if the screenwriter wasn't sure if he should really demonize the villain, break Bas psychologically or not, put forward Ait's immaturity or not, assume James' lack of personality and heroize Marco or not.
Bit part spoiler.
The dialogues are flat, without strong messages to the victims, to the audience, especially the exchanges between Ait and James, "I love you, do you love him, I don't understand why you're doing this, etc...." and Marco who told Bas to hold a press conference to talk about the sexual abuse/rape. Even a 10 year old would know to report to the police. *sigh*
This drama was meant to expose the dark side of the BL industry, to make us aware of the seriousness of the situation behind the glitter and the fanservice. It should have focused a little more on the process that led to Bas' suicide attempt, shown how the industry's bigwigs get away with their crimes, shown the responsibility of the journalists and crew for these behaviors/ abuses. And I think it'd have been possible if Ait and James had been given a little less screen time bc they don't bring anything to the story in this S 2.
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