1
BrightSun
North
This review may contain spoilers
A tale of two shows
My ratings would give this a 6.5 but I'm giving it an 8.5 because despite the complaints, I still enjoyed it and I enjoyed watching YinWar.
This is a show that tried very hard to walk the tight rope of social commentary whilst still being an entertaining show.
YinWar have cemented themselves in my head as the BL couple who will tear my heart out with a smile on their face. They know how to play with the viewers feelings. I also respect that. I don't like it but I respect it. War remains a very emotive actor.
Plot ~ There was so much going on that I don't even know how review properly. It definitely has it's pitfalls. The middle arc really just felt like an 'eat the rich' rant, where you would be expecting to see deepening feelings between Jack and Joke, some kind of building tension with the plot but really we just see elitist assholes playing monopoly with real buildings, some Thanos style ring, and Jack being repeatedly tricked by the boss while Joke repeatedly saves him, in his own way.
Also, Joke is meant to be this 'Master thief' but really, he's just very lucky because every heist goes wrong in some silly way, simply for comedic effect. An example of how this show tried hard to be two things at once.
Tattoo and Hoy are the classic kind of dumb but really useful side characters. Even at the end, where characters are about to have their heads blown off, Hoy and Tattoo are still a ridiculous mess. That can be irritating to be watching something intense and serious, and then switch to another scene, where a character is just a complete moron.
Then there's Save and Hope who you will hate with a passion for obvious reasons but in the final episode, it'll be like hey, all's forgiven, it's fine. Now they're nice guys, we're going to forget about beating people within an inch of their life and tricking them into investing in their savings into doomed stocks LOL It's all the big bad's fault who really just wants vengeance for his own parents.
The upper elite are the true bad guys and they don't really care, and continue to live their elite lives without consequences because, it's the big world order that the show is trying to talk to you about but doesn't want to get too serious about it.
The show touches on some pretty serious topics surrounding the effects of poverty, how the rich play with other people's lives, and there's two suicides because of it. But it's never far away from that cartoon slap stick style of humour that a lot of asian shows use. And that can leave many feeling very angry. My bias for YinWar kind of spared me that but I can imagine for the average watcher, this just may seem ridiculous because it's hard to blend such serious discussions on life on top of childish hijinks.
As for the romance, they went with slow burn for this one. In fact, I wouldn't even call it a burn, it's more like a gentle simmer LOL The way they look at each other or press their heads together, that might be too subtle for some that it may feel like there's no romance at all, until an explosion of feelings.
The first kiss makes me think of the Bad Buddy kiss, where there was no need for talking anymore at the point. And the following sex scene, actually was pretty realistic. I like seeing sex scenes where the characters are fumbling around with their clothes and who's doing who because in a real relationship, that's what happens. And I appreciate it being depicted as so.
And I can't not mention my favourite kiss scene, in the final episode because, damn, get you a lover who is willing to get blown up with you, in a passionate embrace LOL
Kind of wanted Arun and Tattoo to be a thing but, considering everything, I think it's ok that it was just hinted as very early feelings and I'm not too upset about that.
I'm glad that Rose, in the end, ups her own game a little. Rather than waiting for a husband to be the next 'horseman' that is in fact her, who will be a big boss in the end and she embraces that because she now understands what it feels like to be the little guy.
Overall, I did enjoy this show. It's not what I expected but I didn't feel that it just went off the rails. It kept a consistency throughout the whole show, which is that tight rope walk I mentioned, between trying to discuss very real world topics and still being an entertaining show by Thai standards, and it'll land on you or it won't.
This is a show that tried very hard to walk the tight rope of social commentary whilst still being an entertaining show.
YinWar have cemented themselves in my head as the BL couple who will tear my heart out with a smile on their face. They know how to play with the viewers feelings. I also respect that. I don't like it but I respect it. War remains a very emotive actor.
Plot ~ There was so much going on that I don't even know how review properly. It definitely has it's pitfalls. The middle arc really just felt like an 'eat the rich' rant, where you would be expecting to see deepening feelings between Jack and Joke, some kind of building tension with the plot but really we just see elitist assholes playing monopoly with real buildings, some Thanos style ring, and Jack being repeatedly tricked by the boss while Joke repeatedly saves him, in his own way.
Also, Joke is meant to be this 'Master thief' but really, he's just very lucky because every heist goes wrong in some silly way, simply for comedic effect. An example of how this show tried hard to be two things at once.
Tattoo and Hoy are the classic kind of dumb but really useful side characters. Even at the end, where characters are about to have their heads blown off, Hoy and Tattoo are still a ridiculous mess. That can be irritating to be watching something intense and serious, and then switch to another scene, where a character is just a complete moron.
Then there's Save and Hope who you will hate with a passion for obvious reasons but in the final episode, it'll be like hey, all's forgiven, it's fine. Now they're nice guys, we're going to forget about beating people within an inch of their life and tricking them into investing in their savings into doomed stocks LOL It's all the big bad's fault who really just wants vengeance for his own parents.
The upper elite are the true bad guys and they don't really care, and continue to live their elite lives without consequences because, it's the big world order that the show is trying to talk to you about but doesn't want to get too serious about it.
The show touches on some pretty serious topics surrounding the effects of poverty, how the rich play with other people's lives, and there's two suicides because of it. But it's never far away from that cartoon slap stick style of humour that a lot of asian shows use. And that can leave many feeling very angry. My bias for YinWar kind of spared me that but I can imagine for the average watcher, this just may seem ridiculous because it's hard to blend such serious discussions on life on top of childish hijinks.
As for the romance, they went with slow burn for this one. In fact, I wouldn't even call it a burn, it's more like a gentle simmer LOL The way they look at each other or press their heads together, that might be too subtle for some that it may feel like there's no romance at all, until an explosion of feelings.
The first kiss makes me think of the Bad Buddy kiss, where there was no need for talking anymore at the point. And the following sex scene, actually was pretty realistic. I like seeing sex scenes where the characters are fumbling around with their clothes and who's doing who because in a real relationship, that's what happens. And I appreciate it being depicted as so.
And I can't not mention my favourite kiss scene, in the final episode because, damn, get you a lover who is willing to get blown up with you, in a passionate embrace LOL
Kind of wanted Arun and Tattoo to be a thing but, considering everything, I think it's ok that it was just hinted as very early feelings and I'm not too upset about that.
I'm glad that Rose, in the end, ups her own game a little. Rather than waiting for a husband to be the next 'horseman' that is in fact her, who will be a big boss in the end and she embraces that because she now understands what it feels like to be the little guy.
Overall, I did enjoy this show. It's not what I expected but I didn't feel that it just went off the rails. It kept a consistency throughout the whole show, which is that tight rope walk I mentioned, between trying to discuss very real world topics and still being an entertaining show by Thai standards, and it'll land on you or it won't.
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