it feels mean

Listen I love pulp ridiculous shows with problematic characters, like I loved My Engineer, but FUTS is a failure at pulling that of.

I genuinely believe that if this story was done by a different director/screenwriter then I could have loved it. However, I feel like this director went into this show in bad faith.
In summary this show attempts to a lighthearted comedy filled with tropes and not meant to be taken seriously. I say attempts because it can't even manage that. Before I get into the negatives, I will say that I think the actors did as well as they could have, and I felt they were genuinely engaging and I would be glad to see them in other shows in the future. I also like the general premise of a shy, insecure person falling for someone the exact opposite and them both growing together, I also really like the rivals to lovers trope and how it could be used in this context.

Now to the negatives:
1. The comedy is about as subtle as a brick to the face, and there are many places that can work but this feels like what a 40 year old thinks people in their teens think is funny. It misses the charm and nuance that comes from comedy based around a group of peers or friends. In fact a lot of the humour feels mean, it feels like its reliance on making jabs at other characters, or worse in some cases. Which leads us to:

2. There is a part that is played for laughs that is racially insensitive towards Sikhs. This was called out when it aired and though I have criticisms of the response of those higher ups involved, I do have a hope that this leads to this not happening in future shows. The issue is that this once again shows a disconnect with the humour, it gives the show a low level feeling of being mean because of its reliance on punching down humour. It doesn't know how to be funny without being immature or trying to put someone else down.

3. I also feel like the pacing could use work, though I'm more forgiving of this knowing the set episode numbers. The middle episodes got realllll slow, which doesn't really fit the feel of the show.

4. The female representation. Not unique to FUTS, this is an issue in most BL series but there is a habit of BL series to either villainise, infatuated, or infantilise female characters. In FUTS, We see that with the 'twist' female character being the one behind things due to infatuation that they then got over in like 2 scenes. Of the very few other female characters they are toxic shippers which is reliant on the 'infatuated' element of villainising women.

5. Speaking of toxic shippers, They're generally bad and FUTS halfway tries to show that critically but does it with no pay off or development. They don't learn or get consequences. And here is another overarching element of FUTS: it is noticeable that the characters the show is trying to criticise with the shippers are either women or gay characters that are coded more feminine. Which brings me to one of my biggest critiques.

6.Mork. Just Mork. Mork is the prime example of my main critique of FUTS and its that I feel like the director went into the show in bad faith and was reliant on stereotypes. Mork's behaviour throughout the show is the light version of 'gay people are predators'. He is stalker-ish, dismissive to Pi's opinions and autonomy, manipulative and generally an uncomfortable character to watch. He spends the show pushing Pi's boundaries, talking down to him when he says he is uncomfortable and engaging in stalker behaviour but with the veneer of romanticising it. Pi isn't ready to tell people about their relationship, Mork says thats okay but acts otherwise. Pi is extremely uncomfortable with the shippers, so Mork goes to the shippers when Pi doesn't do what he want him to do.

I do not think it was the directors/screenwriters intent to be negative. I think they went in to this thinking they were making a show that was just a bit of fun. But the overarching feel of the show is that it was created by a middle age straight man whose view of gay people is unintentionally tainted by old stereotypes. Its not intentionally malicious, I think the director wanted to make a good show that did a gay romance well but didn't know how and so relied on water-downed versions of stereotypes without realising.
The result of this though is a show that feels like its mean to everyone and everything it could be with a beautiful assistant of over the top comedy distracting you from it. So if you want to watch it I say keep your eye on the beautiful assistant rather than what the magician is doing in the corner.

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Do you want a stale story with uncomfortable chemistry? This is for you.

Lets start with what I like: Kim Yoo-jung as the female lead was endearing and grounded. Though this series is unrealistic she offers a rather humanising performance which puts many of the actors in this serious to shame. Her acting was the only thing keeping me going for as many episodes as I did.
Further helping this was the family element which was by far the best part of this drama, both the relations amongst the family members and the further interactions they have with the people they bring into their lives.
However, none of this could get me to continue to watch this.
This drama fails at its very foundation and that is the romance with the male lead. His character was insufferable, he spends most of the early episodes falling in the pit falls of his own ego, all whilst negging the female lead, or giving the viewer emotional whiplash as he switches between doing half decent things for the FL and being a general arsehole.
Now I went into this drama unaware of the significant age gap between the 2 main actors but it does explain a lot of the uncomfortable tension in many of the 'romantic' scenes. As a rule I'm not against all age gaps, however when the FL actress age is still in the teens and is being partnered with a man in his 30s in a workplace romance which already brings with it a power imbalance there is a level of ick that should not be overlooked. This could have been done well but it shows a lack of forethought and brings a disgustingly uncomfortable element to a drama that does not have the emotional or story strength to pull it off gracefully.

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