This review may contain spoilers
Had potential
Okay, so, I won’t lie, this is probably my least favourite BL I’ve ever seen. I stuck with it and watched the whole show, and whilst it did have moments where I felt emotional, maybe shed a wee tear or cheered, but I think I spent at least 85% of my time just wishing the show would just get on with it.
This series is S L O W; and I don’t just mean a slow burn, I mean everything. I literally counted the time during the many, many scenes of random staring, pausing or just sheer nothing. A few times I thought the screen had frozen, but no, it was just another overlong shot of someone’s face doing nothing.
The concept of the series is a fantastic one, which is of course its major draw, but the lead characters were just…gosh, I don’t know how to even describe it. I didn’t dislike them; Intouch was just a bit irritating to me; Pharm was more like a nervous 12 year old boy; and Dean had one facial expression for the entirety of the show. (These are all my personal opinions; I mean no shade to the cast or anyone who likes the show!) I also felt super uncomfortable with how Dean could be with Pharm? Like, it felt like he forced him to come out to his mother, and would often push Pharm’s boundaries a little too much so that it didn’t feel cute, it felt like bullying. However, I do admit that some of these feelings could be from poor translation from Thai to English; of course there’s a language and culture barrier for me, so perhaps things I interpreted as unusual or uncomfortable was just my own cultural issues (if that makes sense?).
I also felt like other than the reincarnation thing, there was no real connection between Dean and Pharm, which kinda made the whole relationship feel a little hollow to me.
I’ll be honest, by the end I was only watching for the crumbs of Win/Team and the queen that is Manaow. I actually originally watched the show because I’d came across Between Us and wanted to watch its parent show before checking it out.
All that said, I still did actually like the show, but it could have been edited down to ten episodes or less if you take away the long stares and pointless moments. I would like to congratulate whoever was in charge of product placement, though, because it gave me a right giggle whenever Win pulled out a bag of Lays or Manoaw needed ‘a makeup break’.
I think the over all theme, the meaning of the show is very powerful. Showing the generational trauma caused by homophobia in the way it did is something quite different to what I think we’re all used to, and it was very good. It’s just a shame that it wasn’t as polished as it could have been.
This series is S L O W; and I don’t just mean a slow burn, I mean everything. I literally counted the time during the many, many scenes of random staring, pausing or just sheer nothing. A few times I thought the screen had frozen, but no, it was just another overlong shot of someone’s face doing nothing.
The concept of the series is a fantastic one, which is of course its major draw, but the lead characters were just…gosh, I don’t know how to even describe it. I didn’t dislike them; Intouch was just a bit irritating to me; Pharm was more like a nervous 12 year old boy; and Dean had one facial expression for the entirety of the show. (These are all my personal opinions; I mean no shade to the cast or anyone who likes the show!) I also felt super uncomfortable with how Dean could be with Pharm? Like, it felt like he forced him to come out to his mother, and would often push Pharm’s boundaries a little too much so that it didn’t feel cute, it felt like bullying. However, I do admit that some of these feelings could be from poor translation from Thai to English; of course there’s a language and culture barrier for me, so perhaps things I interpreted as unusual or uncomfortable was just my own cultural issues (if that makes sense?).
I also felt like other than the reincarnation thing, there was no real connection between Dean and Pharm, which kinda made the whole relationship feel a little hollow to me.
I’ll be honest, by the end I was only watching for the crumbs of Win/Team and the queen that is Manaow. I actually originally watched the show because I’d came across Between Us and wanted to watch its parent show before checking it out.
All that said, I still did actually like the show, but it could have been edited down to ten episodes or less if you take away the long stares and pointless moments. I would like to congratulate whoever was in charge of product placement, though, because it gave me a right giggle whenever Win pulled out a bag of Lays or Manoaw needed ‘a makeup break’.
I think the over all theme, the meaning of the show is very powerful. Showing the generational trauma caused by homophobia in the way it did is something quite different to what I think we’re all used to, and it was very good. It’s just a shame that it wasn’t as polished as it could have been.
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