2
cdvmty
Mexico
This review may contain spoilers
Nearly an Absolute Disappointment
It seems Thai BLs are now following a trend... first, we got the wave of stories taking place in a high school/university setting or full of engineering or medical students ("My Engineer", "SOTUS", and most of the mediocre GMMTV productions that give us a couple that ends up being shipped forever). Then, we got some with the mafia/gangster theme ("3 Will Be Free", "My Dear Gangster Oppa", "KinnPorsche"). Now, we're moving towards ghosts/supernatural stories ("Something in My Room", "The Whisperer", "Ghost Host, Ghost House") and time travel ("609 Bedroom Story", "Be My Favorite", "Past-Senger", "I Feel You Linger in the Air")... or even a combination of some of these topics. The problem: most of the examples I listed started in a promising way, only to end up being a sad disappointment. "Absolute Zero" is not an exception to the seemingly unwritten rule and here is why.
NOTE: From now on I will refer to young Ong-sa as Y-O, to older Ong-sa as O-O, to young Suansoon as Y-S and to older Suansoon as O-S to avoid having to write young or old each time.
Here is some storyline, in case you are really not aware of it by now. Y-O and Y-S meet as high school students, fall in love and live happily together until the day of their 10th anniversary when O-O has a car accident and ends up in a coma. O-S is desperate not to lose O-O that he wishes for things to change and is miraculously granted the ability to time travel to fix things in the past. So far, so good... well, not so much... he attempts to go back and fails, then Y-O also tries to change things, O-O does so as well and in the end, they do fix the timeline and live happily ever after.
Now comes the bad and confusing parts:
a) Too many flashbacks and repeated scenes. We spent most of the middle episodes re-living the same storyline we've already seen from O-S or from Y-O's perspective but now told from their counterpart's perspective. So, that meant having to deal with the same exact scene 2, 3 or even 4 times throughout the series without adding that much new information to make look like it was worth our time.
b) The tears and the suffering. Oh the tears! This series could have put together 1 or 2 full episodes with just the main characters crying as it was a sea of tears for most of the scenes involving Y-O or O-S deciding not to meet Y-S or to leave. In the several time travel attempts, no matter the changes in the storyline, there were tears and more tears all the time. Which leads to...
c) Music. I like Boy Sompob, but he was over-used in this series. Almost every episode had either the instrumental version or the regular version of the series OST and also had the OST for "Until We Meet Again" included. Nothing different. The opening instrumental music with the graphics with the credits were great but they really promoted Boy Sompob's songs in the series.
d) Poor Writing and Directing. After episode 3, the series began devolving into something messy and confusing. First, O-S wants to alter the timeline to save O-O of the coma, I get that... especially as we later find out that their destiny marks that either one of them has to die in their 10th anniversary if they continue meeting when in high school. What I don't get at all is WHY O-S has to get involved romantically with Y-O... your actual partner is lying in a hospital bed, you time-traveled to change the story and instead of just executing that plan, you end tutoring Y-O's friends, living in P'Nan's café and romancing the younger version of your dying lover. I mean, it's just bizarre to see O-S and Y-O smooching and lying in bed despite O-S knowing that he needs Y-O to avoid meeting Y-S to change the story.
Second, the mystery of the role of the old videostore owner is never fully explained. He seems to be either a version of Father Time (when he tells Y-O that even time has its limits and the clock sounding when he walks out in the post-credit scene in episode 12). At the same time, why is the only possible solution for them never to meet during high school, how does that alter the timeline enough for you to end up happy and together years later?
Third, the surprising time travel. We see that not only O-S time travels but later we also see O-O facing an alternate version of himself coming to warn him to really try not meeting Y-S as I mentioned at the beginning of section D. Supposedly, each one gets a chance to change the timeline but considering the original O-O is in a coma, I'm not sure at what point Ong-sa had the opportunity to time travel.
Fourth, the amnesia of some characters. All have the sense of deja-vu but none can figure out why... except for the older version of Na (Ong-sa's friend) who seems to remember what O-S asked her about believing in time travel when she was younger and the old man from the videostore.
The only GOOD thing I can mention is Tor playing Y-O. Considering this is his first lead role, he had to deal with his parents, P'Nan, the younger versions of his friends and being romantically involved with both versions of Suansoon. He had to develop some sort of chemistry with both Mix (Y-S) and Teng (O-S) in order to convince the viewer he was really in love with him and also had to navigate all the emotions that come from being told that he would die in 10 years unless he doesn't meet the love of his life at the movies.
In the end, this series began in a promising way but began getting lost along the way and no writing/directing trick could bring it back from being a near absolute (and unfortunate) disappointment.
NOTE: From now on I will refer to young Ong-sa as Y-O, to older Ong-sa as O-O, to young Suansoon as Y-S and to older Suansoon as O-S to avoid having to write young or old each time.
Here is some storyline, in case you are really not aware of it by now. Y-O and Y-S meet as high school students, fall in love and live happily together until the day of their 10th anniversary when O-O has a car accident and ends up in a coma. O-S is desperate not to lose O-O that he wishes for things to change and is miraculously granted the ability to time travel to fix things in the past. So far, so good... well, not so much... he attempts to go back and fails, then Y-O also tries to change things, O-O does so as well and in the end, they do fix the timeline and live happily ever after.
Now comes the bad and confusing parts:
a) Too many flashbacks and repeated scenes. We spent most of the middle episodes re-living the same storyline we've already seen from O-S or from Y-O's perspective but now told from their counterpart's perspective. So, that meant having to deal with the same exact scene 2, 3 or even 4 times throughout the series without adding that much new information to make look like it was worth our time.
b) The tears and the suffering. Oh the tears! This series could have put together 1 or 2 full episodes with just the main characters crying as it was a sea of tears for most of the scenes involving Y-O or O-S deciding not to meet Y-S or to leave. In the several time travel attempts, no matter the changes in the storyline, there were tears and more tears all the time. Which leads to...
c) Music. I like Boy Sompob, but he was over-used in this series. Almost every episode had either the instrumental version or the regular version of the series OST and also had the OST for "Until We Meet Again" included. Nothing different. The opening instrumental music with the graphics with the credits were great but they really promoted Boy Sompob's songs in the series.
d) Poor Writing and Directing. After episode 3, the series began devolving into something messy and confusing. First, O-S wants to alter the timeline to save O-O of the coma, I get that... especially as we later find out that their destiny marks that either one of them has to die in their 10th anniversary if they continue meeting when in high school. What I don't get at all is WHY O-S has to get involved romantically with Y-O... your actual partner is lying in a hospital bed, you time-traveled to change the story and instead of just executing that plan, you end tutoring Y-O's friends, living in P'Nan's café and romancing the younger version of your dying lover. I mean, it's just bizarre to see O-S and Y-O smooching and lying in bed despite O-S knowing that he needs Y-O to avoid meeting Y-S to change the story.
Second, the mystery of the role of the old videostore owner is never fully explained. He seems to be either a version of Father Time (when he tells Y-O that even time has its limits and the clock sounding when he walks out in the post-credit scene in episode 12). At the same time, why is the only possible solution for them never to meet during high school, how does that alter the timeline enough for you to end up happy and together years later?
Third, the surprising time travel. We see that not only O-S time travels but later we also see O-O facing an alternate version of himself coming to warn him to really try not meeting Y-S as I mentioned at the beginning of section D. Supposedly, each one gets a chance to change the timeline but considering the original O-O is in a coma, I'm not sure at what point Ong-sa had the opportunity to time travel.
Fourth, the amnesia of some characters. All have the sense of deja-vu but none can figure out why... except for the older version of Na (Ong-sa's friend) who seems to remember what O-S asked her about believing in time travel when she was younger and the old man from the videostore.
The only GOOD thing I can mention is Tor playing Y-O. Considering this is his first lead role, he had to deal with his parents, P'Nan, the younger versions of his friends and being romantically involved with both versions of Suansoon. He had to develop some sort of chemistry with both Mix (Y-S) and Teng (O-S) in order to convince the viewer he was really in love with him and also had to navigate all the emotions that come from being told that he would die in 10 years unless he doesn't meet the love of his life at the movies.
In the end, this series began in a promising way but began getting lost along the way and no writing/directing trick could bring it back from being a near absolute (and unfortunate) disappointment.
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