came for the gays, stayed for the girls(' acting)

This is more of a rant than a review, sorry in advance ✌

Like most of the other reviewers, I came for the cast. Ticha (The Stranded), Nene (2gether), Boun and Prem (Until We Meet Again), Mark Siwat (The Stranded, Love by Chance) and Kaownah (Tharntype). I was looking forward in particular to Ticha's, Kaownah's and Mark's performances since I felt they were the strongest actors but [we didn't really get to see much of Kaownah. His character just disappeared after the team was dissolved. Shame.]

Let's start with the good things.

Prem cheerdancing. Good shit. Adorable. His character was an ass but it was so cute watching him dance.

Siwat in a college uniform (finally!).

Ticha's everything, but I expected nothing less. Her acting in here was five star. Brilliant amazing phenomenal never seen before. I'd say Nene would come second but I'd have to give that place to Sai's child actress - brilliant kid! Her acting was so natural and it really made me sympathize with the character.

All the elements of black magic was the right amount of creepy and mysterious and all the rules made sense to me.

The revenge plot was fun to watch as well, it got a bit predictable near the middle, and then the finale just...undid all that tension and mystery they built up.

I love horror when it's smart, and Long Khong had the potential to be - righteous revenge, the "good guys" racing against time to uncover Praewa's past, Praewa herself exacting revenge and trying to figure out who cursed her at the same time. But it just fell flat.

My main problem was with the pacing.

That whole thing could've been a movie. It wasn't an ensemble story but it was marketed as such. The cheer members had one (1) dimension each & didn't contribute to the plot past their deaths. The consecutive murders felt like a montage almost. The pacing would've been tighter and more compelling as a 2h15m.

The ending would be stronger if more focus was given on Praewa, Sai, their mom, the relationships between the three of them and the 3-eyed god cult. As it is, it felt like it came out of nowhere. The final episode felt like a completely different show from the previous ones.

The cult members and the Mom, who were inarguably the "real" villains among morally gray cast members, were never properly punished (and I don't get why the mom was suddenly okay with giving Praewa her power when she was so willing to sacrifice her life as a kid?).

Sai would've been an amazing villain - ruthless, consistent, manipulative, proactive against Praewa who was always just reacting. And also, how pretty is Pure!!! Follow her on insta @purepwr.g

Her character was so hard to understand though. Why was she so obsessed with Aya's approval? If she liked Brave, why not put a spell on him instead of Dan who imo, would've already been in love with her without it? How come she didn't know who Praewa was when she never changed her name/face/address?

My second problem was with that video.

I am so, so, SO tired of sexual assault being used as a plot device. It's 2020. They can't just frame it as assault (she was drunk as fuck, didn't know brave was filming, etc) then go back and announce that oh, it's okay! She wanted it anyway! NO. STOP. That was such a fucked up thing to do narrative-wise. Stop doing that.

Also, sidebar: I still don't understand why everyone was so obsessed with Aya?? She's cute but like ?? She barely had a personality. And it was never discussed why Praewa was making a voodoo doll of her or whatever that was.

Lastly, Dan. Ah, poor Dan. I know I'm the minority on this but I would've liked his arc better if he wasn't being compelled. I feel like his love for Lilin/Sai, no matter how misguided it may have been, would've been enough to push him to do the things he did. It would've fit in with the whole every-member-of-the-cheerleading-team-has-a-hidden-dark-side thing they've got going on. And it would've made his character, and the "do you still love me?" line at the finale more chilling and interesting.

Plot Hole Dump:
• no way Ping died from a fall that low, she would've broken her leg at worst
• Kin dying and being replaced by Praewa? He's a guy! He's a base in the stunts! If they made Praewa take his place she wouldn't be able to physically hold up their weight.

I heard it's coming on Netflix (hopefully internationally) so I would still rewatch it if only to see everyone + the cheer routines in HD (because the visuals on this cast, wow).

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