It Had Its Moments
I think, overall, my main issue with this show was that what I thought it was going to be, based off the trailers and such, was not what it actually was. Was it a bad show? No, definitely not. Was it an important show? Yes, absolutely! Was it what I wanted it to be?
No.
I loved the premise of the show— a boy pretending to be his twin brother and joining a gang to find out what happened to him, and then ultimately falling for the gang member his brother hates the most. But the premise got lost quickly in the political lectures and long-winded justifications for the gang's actions, and although I think the love story was done well, I don't think the rest of it really was.
Black and White get, maybe, three meaningful scenes together throughout the whole show. In the end, their mystical twin connection was a pointless addition to the show to— what? Give the parents a reason to pull a "Parent Trap" and separate them for years? Hell, half the time after Black woke up he was just gone, doing stuff off-screen that we never got to see. In the end, his whole character was practically unnecessary. Just a means to an end to get White into the gang. White seems to forget quite often why he was even there, and just allowed himself to get swept into the gang's plots without actually doing anything to figure out who hurt Black. In the end, he doesn't even figure out who did it! He has to be told, because he literally just stopped trying.
I can see what they wanted to do with this show— the messages they wanted to get across and, in general, what they wanted to say about the current political climate in Thailand. But, especially in the first half of the show, it felt so heavy-handed and spoon-fed to the audience. Half the episodes were us listening to law students debate rule of law or the gang explaining why their country's justice system sucks. What they were saying was important, but it clogged the story down so much and was honestly quite boring. It picked up around the midpoint-ish (more like episode 9 or 10), when there was actually plot instead of long-winded lectures every five minutes. There were many other ways I think they could have formulated scenes to show us what they wanted us to know without just telling us outright, and I wish they'd tried more to do that.
I also disliked how much time was spent on justifying the gang's missions and the work they were trying to do. I get it, they wanted us to root for the gang and to see them as vigilantes who are trying to take down the bad guys and do good, rather than seeing them as criminals. To be quite honest, the trailer (especially the initial one) made it look more like illegal gang activities than activism, and I wanted that more. I was ready to root for some anti-heroes, so the justifications felt boring and unneeded to me.
I do feel like the ending wrapped up too easily, and again had them just writing off Black and White not really caring at all (???), but ultimately the last four or five episodes of the show were much better than the rest.
Acting-wise, though, this show was AMAZING! Every actor in this show impressed me at some point. Gun— of course we knew he would kill at this, but the duality between White and Black was so perfect and insane to see. Especially in the (few) scenes with both of them, it was so distinct on who was who. Beautiful job. First, as well, knocked it right out of the park. He's always been a showstopping actor in my opinion, but he really just shined in this role. (Also his chemistry with Fluke??? Unmatched.) Off did a really good job in his role as Sean— I went in not knowing how I'd feel about him in this type of role, but he really delivered!
I will say, I do think I'm in the minority when it comes to my opinion of the show. If you're thinking of watching the show, I'd say probably just go for it and keep more of an open mind than I was able to as I watched.
No.
I loved the premise of the show— a boy pretending to be his twin brother and joining a gang to find out what happened to him, and then ultimately falling for the gang member his brother hates the most. But the premise got lost quickly in the political lectures and long-winded justifications for the gang's actions, and although I think the love story was done well, I don't think the rest of it really was.
Black and White get, maybe, three meaningful scenes together throughout the whole show. In the end, their mystical twin connection was a pointless addition to the show to— what? Give the parents a reason to pull a "Parent Trap" and separate them for years? Hell, half the time after Black woke up he was just gone, doing stuff off-screen that we never got to see. In the end, his whole character was practically unnecessary. Just a means to an end to get White into the gang. White seems to forget quite often why he was even there, and just allowed himself to get swept into the gang's plots without actually doing anything to figure out who hurt Black. In the end, he doesn't even figure out who did it! He has to be told, because he literally just stopped trying.
I can see what they wanted to do with this show— the messages they wanted to get across and, in general, what they wanted to say about the current political climate in Thailand. But, especially in the first half of the show, it felt so heavy-handed and spoon-fed to the audience. Half the episodes were us listening to law students debate rule of law or the gang explaining why their country's justice system sucks. What they were saying was important, but it clogged the story down so much and was honestly quite boring. It picked up around the midpoint-ish (more like episode 9 or 10), when there was actually plot instead of long-winded lectures every five minutes. There were many other ways I think they could have formulated scenes to show us what they wanted us to know without just telling us outright, and I wish they'd tried more to do that.
I also disliked how much time was spent on justifying the gang's missions and the work they were trying to do. I get it, they wanted us to root for the gang and to see them as vigilantes who are trying to take down the bad guys and do good, rather than seeing them as criminals. To be quite honest, the trailer (especially the initial one) made it look more like illegal gang activities than activism, and I wanted that more. I was ready to root for some anti-heroes, so the justifications felt boring and unneeded to me.
I do feel like the ending wrapped up too easily, and again had them just writing off Black and White not really caring at all (???), but ultimately the last four or five episodes of the show were much better than the rest.
Acting-wise, though, this show was AMAZING! Every actor in this show impressed me at some point. Gun— of course we knew he would kill at this, but the duality between White and Black was so perfect and insane to see. Especially in the (few) scenes with both of them, it was so distinct on who was who. Beautiful job. First, as well, knocked it right out of the park. He's always been a showstopping actor in my opinion, but he really just shined in this role. (Also his chemistry with Fluke??? Unmatched.) Off did a really good job in his role as Sean— I went in not knowing how I'd feel about him in this type of role, but he really delivered!
I will say, I do think I'm in the minority when it comes to my opinion of the show. If you're thinking of watching the show, I'd say probably just go for it and keep more of an open mind than I was able to as I watched.
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